Red is the best for night visiion. Amber will mess up your night
vision.
The rool up shades fail at 17 yrs I've been told.

And why do they put a port in the big windows, do they not open?

Well the oldest 35s5's are 17 years old. No failures reported by
owners. And the shades are easy to replace. Amber does not mess up
night vision by your feet. It's what they use on Baltics and Swedens as
well.
The big windows are very thick and strong lexan. I sure wouldn't want
them to open. There are 4 opening ports in the main cabin and a good
sized hatch. There's also a rain cover for the companionway...plenty of
airflow. Forward cabin has the largest hatch on the boat. Aft cabin is
most problematic with only a single opening port. Onwers have added a
vertically mounted vent with 12v fan and we may do the same. We'll see
how it all works in practice.
So far my only real let-down with the design of the boat is the
lighting. I think the fixtures are nice, but too small. I plan to
modify them. 4 months until I can sail her!

RB
35s5
NY