Window Tinting

[STeveZ]

The old window tinting in my B28's cabins is fading/bubbling/drying/peeling, so I took a razor blade and acetone to one of the side panes and I came off and cleaned up pretty easily.

I'm not about to remove the frames/glass so I'm planning to replace the tinting with a similar applied window tint that comes in a roll at Pep Boys Auto Store. I see no reason why it should not look good and work well. Or is there a special "marine" product I should buy for twice as much?

[Ed Curry]

I used a film from SunTek and it held up better than anything I got from auto part stores. I'd suggest going to a window tinter and getting a roll of what they use. The films I got from the auto supply places turned purple after a year.

[CaptPatrick]

This is meant for all & is going wander off topic a bit, but...

Pep Boys, Auto Zone, Home Depot, Lowe's, Scotty's, Discount Auto, and a host of other "Bargain" & "Home Improvement" Centers base a lot of their inventories on sub-standard crap that's produced overseas and offered with bottom line mentality, (least expensive to buy with the biggest profit margin available, while still allowing the consumer to purchase at a lower price than product dedicated merchants offer).

Depending on the item or material you're looking for, sub-standard crap, (as viewed by some purests), might be just the ticket. But if what you need is needed to last for a long while, without modification or undue amounts of prep, always go for the better quality offered by a shop or store that specializes in the product needed.

A pretty fair amount of what I buy, even for use on boat project, comes from "Bargain" & "Home Improvement" Centers, but ya' gotta' know what & how to use the item.

Plywood is a super example of this theory. If the ply is to be used in an exterior environment, and will be seen, (varnished, painted without lamination, or otherwise), then marine ply is probably the route to take, but not always. ie: when making a new cockpit/cabin bulkhead, that will be laminated both sides with Formica, there's no need for the expense of the marine ply. B/C exterior is by far less expensive, same glue, and in the finished product, just as strong and durable as the marine grade.

It's those "in your face" items, such as hardware, paint, window film, & etc that need to have the bucks spent to get the best quality you can afford. There are many ways to economize but "buying on the cheap" and "cutting corners" will only bite you in the ass and may even end up costing you more in the long run when & if you have to re-do a short lived sub-quality job.

Br,

Patrick

[STeveZ]

Well I found my local (next state over) SunTek distributor and I'll talk to them on Monday. Also a couple local tinters in the phone book. Any other suggested products and/or sources? Thanks!

[Mikey]

Here here, Capt Pat; Here here! I need that post tattooed to the inside of my eyelids. An addendum to that is: Just because it has a brand name doesn't mean it's any good. So many American manufacturers sell various levels of stuff, including tool companies. I have thirty and forty-year-old tools whose manufacturers I wouldn't patonize today if you gave me their stuff. So much for that great reputation. We Americans can be such short-term thinkers. Before we do in the lawyers how about the MBA's first.

[In Memory Walter K]

Don't get me started on MBA"s. They're a living argument for the need for Universal Military Training straight out of high School. They haven't seen an hour of business combat and want to come in as second lieutenants over men who need a whole different kind of leadership. The CEO's and their Boards are supposed to be the foward thinking "new idea" people who deserve the big bucks...if they have new and different ideas. I was a CEO who found out how hollow (or should I say shallow) some of those degrees were. I found the most talented and brilliant people are instinctive...hire them for any job and they'll be a success. They have a fire in their bellies for what they do. I credit my ability to find them to my Art School training...not business school training. Art School teaches you to trust your instincts...nor what someone puts down on paper...that you're not even sure as to whether he or she even wrote! Walter

[Charlie J]

good tinting will probably run you about 5 6 hundred, maybe more. thats what it cost me a on my last boat . no names, but it was a 33ft

[Mikey]

Amen, Walter. Glad to see that the anesthesia didn't get your brain. I fear that the reason the politicians want to cut out art in the classroom is that art teaches you to think. Of course if you can't think you can always be a democrat.

[randall]

mikey....you know a bunch of republican artists?......most i know (and i know alot) are dems or left leaning indies.....and they all think they can think....just ak em

[STeveZ]

Hmm, could be the same stuff as Pep Boys but they talk a pretty good game, and they carry SunTek which Ed seems to have had luck with.

http://www.snaptint.com/home.php

(4) 20"x60" pieces @ $85 shipped

The big 20" x 26' roll at Pep Boys was $60

[Mikey]

Randall.
Republican artists are as rare as republican actors. I have a successful actor classmate in L.A. who admits it to me and no one else. It always astounds me that so many stars who actually work for a living are Dems. Guess it proves my theory that only two groups of people can afford to be Democrats, the rich and the poor. The poor because they know that the Government will give them what they want and the rich because they know it won't be theirs given.

[STeveZ]

I've also had 3M recommended but can't figure out if it is available to the general public.

[thuddddddd]

Steve, the stuff isn't overly difficult to apply, buttttt, I'd get a quote to have it done, as well. May be cheeper and leave you happier if your a fanatic about perfection.