Stinking Winter! Lost a windshield.

[kthoennes]

So we went down to check the boat today, just a monthly status check -- and discovered that the starboard windshield was completely shattered, bits of tempered glass everywhere. Pain in the neck. I have no idea how it happened. It's well under the winter cover, no big heavy snowstorm, no snow in the salon, carpet is dry. Vandalism is always possible but that's highly, highly unlikely in our marina, vandalism just never happens there, we're just lucky. It did get below zero last week for one night but it was colder last winter and the windshield didn't shatter. I know tempered glass sometimes shatters spontaneously if it's under stress. (The photo might make it look like that tarp was resting against the window, but that's actually the sun mesh/screen cover. The winter tarp is at least a foot beyond, off the window.)

Anybody ever replace a windshield in a 32 from the 1980's, any advice? At least it's a flat panel of glass rather than curved like a car windshield so maybe I can replace it myself when the temperature goes back up in the spring and it won't be a million dollars. Probably replace it with a sheet of plywood for now. I assume I just take a knife to the channel, pry it out, pry out all the glass, pry out the weather-beading, and then re-seat it all.

What a pain.

 

[cmariner32]

If it's a perfectly flat piece of glass, you can go to any good glass company and have a replacement made. I had one made with tinted glass and tempered for a very reasonable price on my '86 32 Mariner.

 

[kthoennes]

Thanks Rick -- so did you pop the frame out and take it to the glass place and let them seat it? Or just gave them dimensions? The bits that are left look like 1/4" to me, but when I clean up all the pieces and clean out the frame I'll be able to tell more accurately. What a pain.

It is just flat glass but it's not a rectangle -- it's a parallelogram (or close to it). It'll take a some careful measurements with a tape and my machinist's protractor to get the angles right. I priced tempered glass on the net, about 39" x 58" (rectangle), wasn't as bad as I thought, less than $200 before shipping and without any tinting.

I've done some more googling since the original post and I see this isn't necessarily a rare thing for older Carvers, happens from time to time. Better it happened now I suppose than in the slip in the summer with guests aboard. Funny though that it would happen now, 30 years after they installed that window -- but then we bought the boat in 2011 from Texas, seldom dips below zero on Lake Texoma.

 

[32carv]

The cold would not break it. My guess would be that somebody dropped something on it while covering it for the winter. A small chip or crack spread until it shattered.
Jim

 

[Savasa]

Morning all,
Happy new year to everyone. Regarding the windshield. That "small chip or crack" that spread could easily have triggered the window shattering in the cold the same as it could have shattered if hot.

 

[Ken34]

I would compound all possibilities with the way the boat is shored. has the earth shifted at all under the boat?

I was hoisting an older 31 silverton some years ago when the same window as yours, exploded. Scared the crap out of me! I immediately checked the sling marks. All was where it should have been, just too much flex in that boat!

I know if the weight is not properly balanced between the keels and the hull, these boats will have plenty of twist to them!
This is apparent in cabin doors/gaps.

If it were my 32, I would replace the glass in the water after the boat has been sitting and met its equalibrium.

Just my 2 cents!

 

[32carv]

Ken,
Good idea. If the boat flexed that much to break the window, it will probably break when it goes the other way.
When my 3227 is out of the water, the doors do not close properly so there is some flex and could cause the issue.
Jim

 

[cmariner32]

In my case, I made a template of the window. As I recall, it was 3/16 glass but don't hold that to me-it was over 10 years ago. I did the install myself to save some bucks-it wasn't too difficult with the snap molding and all. It was actually more difficult getting all the small pieces of glass out of the frame than anything else. Good luck.

 

[kthoennes]

Thanks very much everybody for the replies. They hauled it October 15 and so it has been sitting there a few months now and we last checked the boat about three weeks ago -- but then I suppose the ground could have shifted a little under one of the jacks. They used five keel blocks and four jack stands (I'd prefer six jackstands myself, but I know just four is often used for these). I wasn't present when they pulled it but I can always tell where they placed the slings because they never bother to power wash where the slings were when they drop it in the yard -- and it looks like they placed the slings in the proper place. That photo might make it look like the tarp is ripped, but I had just moved the cover aside from the bow to see if I could find any reason for the break, hence the sunlight shining in. Ah well, whatever the reason, I agree with the good advice, might as well wait until launch in the spring to replace it. For now I'll make a plywood panel.

We had a sliding shower door explode one night in the bathroom at 3:00 a.m. a couple years ago Scared the living daylights out of us, we thought a meteor hit the house, glass bits everywhere in the bathroom, even on the windowsill across the room. House was built in 1996, could have been somebody cranked the frame clips too tight and it just took that long to fail. Same thing with the windshield maybe, or maybe it did get whacked somehow and just decided to break lately. Odd thing is that the broken glass is all inside -- not one bit on the bow. When the shower door spontaneously exploded the glass when in all directions. Glass is interesting stuff.