Glassing Front Windows

[trace elements]

All,

I know it has been beaten to death. I am changing course and thinking about glassing in my front windshield and following Capt. Pat's recommendations for the side windows. I don't believe the holmsey kit is still available. I am removing the entire front frame, so I don't want to just glass over the existing frames. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Tony Meola]

Any thoughts on using the old frame to make a fiberglass mold?

Or perhaps, covering the frame and glass with some type of release paper or saran wrap, and then make the solid piece using the frame as the mold.

[trace elements]

Tony,

I am split between builidng a mold from the existing frames or cold molding in place. Both have their merits.

Leaving the frame in place is just not an option for me. Feels like a half-assed fix.

[Ironworker]

Building a mold or glassing in place??? Here is a consideration

Mine was glassed in place by a shop before I got the boat. The front looked great but the back of the glass was unfinished. My boat came with a piece of furniture with rolling doors that was built by a true craftsman in Pt. Pleasant, NJ that hid the back side of the glass. I decided to remove the cabinet and then was faced with fairing/sanding the back side of the glassed in windshield. Now that was a true PITA! We spent countless hours on that task.

Its the focal point as you enter the cabin and if it's not faired properly it looks half assed. My suggestion is to opt for the least amount of work which would likely be a molded part.

[John F.]

Crows Nest had the fiberglass overlay glassed onto the front windshield before Doug bought her in 2002 or so. I glassed over a couple minor surface cracks when I painted her 10 years or so ago, and glassed over and finished the laminate covering the inside. Long and short, yeah, I’d rather have the full Holmsey insert, but this is a really close second and hasn’t given any real problems for more than 20 years, and you can’t tell by looking whether it’s an overlay or insert.