Best way to fix a hair line crack? near windshield
 

I was curious.. the only flaw my boat really had was this very hairline crack to the right of the drivers windshield. A treelimb struck the boat and broke the glass and made the little crack shown in the picture (assuming the picture uploads). I had a friend suggest fingernail polish to seal it? does anyone have a better suggestion. It's just cosmetic looking.. but still an eye sore to me.

Thanks,
Nick

Re: Best way to fix a hair line crack? near windshield
 

I also received an email from Kimberly Cirillo regarding my replacement glass. When the limb hit the windshield it didn't do any damange to the frame... just the glass and small crack you see. I have to try and locate the number on the passenger side window frame for her... but i'm hoping that they can get me a new windshield at a reasonable price. Has anyone had experience with them? or am I getting my hopes up for nothing? Here is her title and location....

Taylor Made Systems
Taylor Made Group LLC
Customer Service
93 South Blvd
Gloversville, NY 12078
[email protected]
518-773-9310
fax-518-773-2919

Re: Best way to fix a hair line crack? near windshield
 

I believe the number Taylormade is looking for is inside the window frame. If i remember correctly it is a 6-9 digit number. If that's the case then you will have to remove the window glass to be able to find the number. I did it with mine & despite having the number they no longer had the mold. I ended up having to get one made by a local acrylic shop. If you do a site search for 'windshield' you will find a number of other members who went thru the same process. Most were unsuccessful.

Since the crack is small i might consider taking it to a glass shop and asking if they can fill the crack with the acrylic (or whatever it is they use) to fix stone chips rather than trying to replace the glass.

Re: Best way to fix a hair line crack? near windshield
 

I noticed an epoxy type stuff in overtons today.. I may use it to fill the crack in the fiberglass... it's a very slight surface crack. As for the windshield.. I haven't read where anyone was able to get a new piece of glass from them. I have inquired at a few local glass shops and they said they could put a piece of plexi or lexan in there (mine already has a piece of lexan as a replacement). However the lexan the PO installed has crazing marks where he bent it. It's a fairly close match on coloration.. but not perfect. I just hate that it's so flimsy. I have to shove the windshield frame toward the outside of the hull so that the center windshield will close. I'm guessing this is in part because of the lexan not being nearly as rigid as the original glass.

Here is the epoxy that overtons has... They say gelcoat white.. but i'm not sure that my boat is truly white? suppose this would work?

Overton's® > Power Poxy Marine 1 oz.

Re: Best way to fix a hair line crack? near windshield
 

My plastics vendor up here said although lexan is stronger, acrylic had better UV protection and was more scratch resistant than lexan so that was why i went with acrylic.

Have a look thru our Projects & Add-ons section regarding the gel-coat repair. Our admin guy did a full write up on that issue.

Re: Best way to fix a hair line crack? near windshield
 

Thanks, I will look into the repair section.

Out of curiosity, did you install the acrylic on your own? What windows did you replace? Is it as rigid as the original glass? Is it clear or tinted? I would like everything to match color wise... as close as possible. I even thought about swapping the drivers (lexan)and passengers (still original glass) for something that matches.. but then I realized the center window wouldn't match.. nor the side windows. Decisions decisions... probably a good project for the fall lol.

p.s. can you tint acrylic?

Re: Best way to fix a hair line crack? near windshield
 

I removed the window drivers side curved frame with the broken glass & took the whole thing to the plastics guys so that they could create a form & shape the acrylic. I then installed the new acrylic section myself with some new frame rubber from Taylormade and remounted the repaired windshield frame.

Have no idea if you can tint acrylic.

Re: Best way to fix a hair line crack? near windshield
 

Did the acrylic match the glass? Did it seem as rigid as the glass? My lexan replacement seems very flimsy... I suppose the PO could have used a thicker panel.. but not much thicker.

Re: Best way to fix a hair line crack? near windshield
 

Looks fairly close & it was 3/16" thick.