Skagit 20 windsheild

[strobee]

I have heard rumors that Marty is going to use a 55 ford sedan windsheild for a Skagit 20 windsheild. Bruce B has taken a template off his 20 and it matches the Ford. It will have to be cut in half and the corners rounded off. I am interested in the results and hope Marty makes it work. I am also curious if the Ford windsheild uncut would be the proper windsheild for the Skagit 17 Express. I would think Skagit would try to use exsisting inventory and this would make a little narrower windsheild for the 17. I would like glass windsheilds for my Skagits. Marty let us know how it all works out. Clint

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Skagit Glass Windshields

Clint -

Yes, we've ordered '55 Ford glass through Associated Glass in Lynnwood, and it's being cut and fit as we speak (hopefully).

The tentative schedule is for us to meet with the '58 Skagit's owners, Charlie and Pat Johns of Richland, when they take delivery from Associated this Thursday. Needless to say, I'll be shooting and posting photos to show how the '55 Ford glass worked out. (Crossing all of our fingers...and so are Charlie and Pat, of course.)

I think when Associated tells us exactly how much they cut out of the center of the wraparound windshield in order to fit it into the two-pane frame, we should be able to confirm with measurements that the uncut glass would fit right into a Skagit 17 frame...but everything remains to be proven by Associated in terms of how the factory windshield fits in a Skagit 20 frame.

...Stay tuned for an update Thursday evening.

- Marty

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Update on Windshield Glass

Oops. Associated said the '55 Ford glass fit in the frame when cut down the middle and radiused on the inside corners...BUT the starboard side piece of glass developed a hairline crack right after installation.

So the good news is that it's a fit, but the bad news is that Charlie and Pat need to either get another '55 Ford windshield...or switch to the plexiglass solution.

Tomorrow Associated will find out whether they get a break from the glass supplier, since the piece broke.

Another update will follow in coming days, but we definitely won't get the boat back on Thursday.

- Marty

[slo-mo]

all in the name of science...

Sorry to hear that Charlie and Pat are the guinea pigs, but cut safety glass is a black art - and sometimes takes a couple brave souls to eat a few blanks in order to get it right.

Am not sure how Associated is cutting the 55 Ford piece, but have witnessed a windshield being trimmed down for a chopped custom with a 5 axis water-jet. It was such a clean cut that there was no need to polish out the stress risers.

Here is a similar YouTube video of the process:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Np576kYII"]waterjet windshield / chopjob - YouTube[/ame]

Good work guys, keep us posted on the results.

greg

[strobee]

I would guess that means the 17 windsheild overall width would be narrower overall the width of the center peice of of the Skagit 20 windsheild. The Betty Boop a Skagit 17 had a one peice glass windsheild. Might have been the Ford windsheild. At least the long time puzzle of what glass was used on the Skagit 20 is solved. Clint

[Nomad55]

Looking forward to the report to see how much was removed. I've done a few early cars with split windshield that we removed the center sheet metal and "V" butted the glass to smooth & give a one piece appearance and was wondering if the same method would work on the Skagits or is there too much flex in the frame for this to work?

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Skagit Windshield

Here's a shot of the installed windshield, taken by Jim at Associated Glass. The photo shows the crack that unfortunately developed in the starboard-side glass, but otherwise the two pieces fit in the frame after they cut the glass straight down the middle, then ground a radius into the inside corners...following the pattern of the Skagit fiberglass windshield frame.

Charlie and Pat are wrestling with what to do about the cracked-glass situation right now...waiting to hear what it'll cost to start over, whether to switch to plexiglass, or whatever.

I'll update the situation as soon as we know the outcome, and especially after I've seen the installation in person.

- Marty

[Nomad55]

So the windshield was just sliced down the center line and nothing else removed? If so then it should be possible to remove the center divider of the Skagit frame and section ( shorten) the frame to accept the windshield, uncut, and create a one piece windshield,no,yes?

[Ingvar]

Wind shield

Well How did the 55 Ford Windshield work out.
Ingvar - Swedster

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Skagit Windshield

Yes, they just cut the windshield down the middle--single cut--so you should be able to section the fiberglass frame to accept an uncut '55 Ford windshield.

There's one side issue that seems to have emerged from Charlie and Pat's experience. From our observation of a lot of Skagit 20 windshield frames that still have their original (usually cracked) glass in place, it appears that in most cases the '55 Ford glass has lifted halfway out of its rubber gasket in the lower outside corner areas...where the glass wraps around to the side. Now that Associated had its experience struggling to get the Ford glass in place--resulting in an overnight cracking of the windshield--we may have just learned that Skagit fiberglass windshield frames NEVER did accommodate '55 Ford glass perfectly, or comfortably. (Jim, at Associated, suggested that in order for the Ford glass to nest nicely in the fiberglass frame, the lower/outer bolts holding the frame to the cabintop would have to be loosened...allowing the base of the fiberglass frame to lift a bit and meet the piece of glass. While there are many other reasons why the Associated piece of glass might have cracked--other than an imperfect fit in the frame--we may have just had confirmation that it's best to mount original Ford glass into the frame while it's off the boat...and then gently bolt it onto the cabintop...using some sort of soft rubber gasket material between the frame and cabin so that outer areas of the fiberglass frame are not 'tortured' down hard onto the cabintop, resulting in stress on the glass.)

I still haven't seen the glass in person, but there was an "aha" moment when Jim said the frame wanted to be relaxed and lifted a bit off the cabintop in order to accommodate the glass. All of the sudden, I was remembering all of the original Skagits with glass that was trying to walk out of the lower, outside corners.)

...Still more to come on the subject, but that's the tentative conclusion: Mount your glass first, then deal with re-fitting the frame.

- Marty

[Nomad55]

Marty thank you for the response. We nearly lost the windshield on a couple occasions with our Skagit 17 just as you describe. After cruising for a bit I looked to my left to see a gap of about 2" between the center divider and port side windshield. Fun times working it back into place. It also happened to the starboard side as well.

[GregJ]

I was faced with the option of using glass or plexiglass recently. Glass cracks and breaks, plexi. can get scratched but can be rubbed out pretty nicely these days. I am a whole lot more comfortable with a sheet of plexi. in front of me whenever I hit a wave to hard than a sheet of glass which can concievably break apart and cause major damage to me and my passengers. I would be willing to bet that as soon as plexiglass became available the boat manufactures back in the day stopped using glass for there windshields for safty reasons.

[Steve_Kiesel]

Greg is not kidding when he says hit a wave hard. Greg certainly does not get cheated out fun when on the water.

These shots are from the 2008 outing at Lake Whatcom. These are an example of Greg trying to drench Marty while he is snapping photos. Greg, your a blast to be with on outings. If you ever want to boat the high lakes of Central Oregon, let me know. Come the first of May I will have lots of spare time for boating. (I hope)

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Greg's Windshield

...What Greg really needs is a rubber windshield--nothing else can survive!

- Marty

[GregJ]

Susie made me do it. I would love to come down and do that Steve. It sounds like your getting close to retirement. Right.