How to make a windshield

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   Thought this might interest some folks here.

Here's the old one. As you can see no visibility.

Started out by laying some taped together poster board to the inside of the old windshield. You want to pull it tight to the edges, making sure not to follow the vertical curve. You can't duplicate the compound curve without a vacuum mold.

Try to keep the middle from dipping down into the curve.

After I got it set, I took a sharp razor blade and followed the outline of the old windshield to cut the poster board.

Now for a dry fit, already looks better 

Now I took my poster board pattern, flattened,  and traced it onto my sheet of Lexan. Be sure and keep the protective film on there until your done.

Went to a local plastic supplier and got half a 4x8 sheet of 3/16 inch Lexan XL. I think it's 3/16, whatever my old one measured out at. The XL has a UV protective guarantied for 10 years.

Cut her out with a jig saw and regular wood blade. I taped the bottom of the jig saw plate with masking tape to be extra careful not to scratch the Lexan.

Here's the part I don't have pics on. There are rivets holding in the old glass, I took a drill bit and just drilled them out. So when you go to put the new glass in, you'll need to rivet again. 

With the help of my wife, you need two people, I fit the frame to the new sheet of Lexan. Started in the middle, she held one end while I bent the Lexan into the curve of the other. Then swapped sides. It's a pretty tough job because it keeps wanting to straighten out. 

Once you get it where you want it, drill some holes where your old rivets where. I started in the middle and worked my way to the bottom edges, one at a time using a rubber mallet to make sure the Lexan was all the way in the frame. Used some aluminum rivets I had lying around for gutters.

It gets easier once you have the rivets holding it all together. There are two large holes where the frame screws into the hardware on the boat you need to drill as well.

Once you got everything secure, bring your new windshield out to the boat. I attached the ends to the mounting hardware, keeping everything a bit loose. You then need to press the bottom of the windshield down to the bow, it helps to have a friend, so that you can mark where to drill your holes for the eye screw bolt things, whatever they are called. My boat has 4. I moved the outer two further inwards because it appeared that the windshield would end up being wavy where the original two were. You just have to look at it and decide. Attached the middle two then press down on the edges and eyeball the new glass until it curves smoothly.

Sorry I didn�t take pics at this point, guess I was too excited about getting it done.

Get yourself some new deck channel.

Deck Channel

Loosen everything and install, tighten as you go.

Remove the protective film and see again.

So, I used Lexan (polycarbonate) because you can cold form it, meaning you can bend it all day without heating and it won�t break. You can also cut and drill with whatever you have. Be sure if you go with it, get the XL or something that has UV protection or it will yellow.

And here is the biggest downside, it scratches very easily. You can scratch it with your fingernail. You want to clean it with lots of water and a non harsh soap. Never use Windex. Also they say clean in straight lines, not swirls, that way if it scratches it won�t glare as bad in the sun. And keep the protective film on there until your done.

We�ll see how it holds up. The 2x8 sheet cost $120 which is a steal compared to the $500 a local fabricator wanted to make me one.

This site has some good info that helped me.

Windshield Rebuild

Hope this helps anyone looking to take on this project.

How to make a windshield

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