Chopping the Windsheild???

[USAFaggie]

Hey has anyone ever attempted to do this? I think my 87 Eluder would look SICK with a chopped, tinted windshield! OH, and one more thing: About how much would ya'll think factory vinyl for the captains chairs would be?

 

[BullittBen]

Yea, check some of the old posts on Chucker's former V-Mate II. He chopped the windshield. Now the boat belongs to The Nerd.

 

[Chucker]

Yeah, I had no problem chopping my windshield, but others have. I can explain to you how I did it, and hope you have the same success I did.

1. Make sure you have the windshield firmly supported (I used saw horses and 2X4's)

2. Mark the windshield where you want to cut, I used a Sharpie. Take your time and think through the marking process thouroughly. I cut the bottom of mine off because there was a crack that I wanted to eliminate. Cutting the bottom became tricky to mark because the cut mark was actually not an equal distance from the existing edge. Mine was a one piece, curved windshield, making things more difficult. If not done right, you could actually change the angle of the windshield. (Hard to explain with words, but I'm sure you can visualize this) Yours should be simple, appears to be straight cut sections.

3. Get a good quality Jig Saw, double face tape some felt to the support table to reduce the risk of scratching. I used a brand new medium tooth blade. (If you go too fine, the plastic melts back together, too coarse will cause chipping)

4. Enlist the help of a friend to hold and support the plexi while you are carefully and patiently making the cut. I also HIGHLY recommend you hand your helper an air hose with a blow gun attached. Have him/her aim a stream of air right at the blade as you progress. (This blows the molten plexi out of the saw kerf, preventing it from melting back together)

5. Go for it!

Here is the link to the thread Ben mentioned
http://checkmate-boats.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6131

Good luck!

 

[Wonderllama]

you have a plex windshield on your eluder? my eluder has glass, but i guess it is a little older than yours.

yeah, if it's tempered glass, you can't cut it.

 

[slamram99]

you cant score it with a glass tool and break it?

 

[yellowfiero88]

If its glass, a belt sander will sand right through glass. Just make sure you don't get to aggressive as it will heat up and break it.

 

[jazzy]

hi im a glazier by trade if its plexi pretty much anything with a sharp blade will cut it jig saws work well just dont use too fine a blade or push too hard sometimes it works like welding you melt the two pieces together after you cut it (ive learned the hard way) if its glass its actually simpler in my opinion unless its curved glass then it gets expensive for you but the age is telling me not look in the corner of the glass for a small stamp if it says tempered you cant cut it but dont worry glass is cheap remove all the pieces figure out how much you want off and mark them any good glass shop can cut them for you if theyre laminated but if not you just have to order new pieces in that instance you can order any tint you want if you get the choice i would go with either a bronze or grey reflective they both look cool there are some interesting shades of green out there now as well