artie-351 Posted February 10, 2015 Posted February 10, 2015 (edited) Hi Raiders I have a 530 quintrex coastrunner I need to replace the windscrean on. Can any body point me in the right direction for a supplier on fitter? Cheers Troy In the Sydney area. Edited February 10, 2015 by artie-351
Guest hawkesbass Posted February 10, 2015 Posted February 10, 2015 Hewie at hewitt marine give him a call he can point you in the right direction
Guest no one Posted February 10, 2015 Posted February 10, 2015 Shouldnt cost too much either - I drove into someones and smashed it... only cost me $150 to repair it.
bessell1955 Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 I actually made my own using perspex and a heat gun. I used the remnants of the old screen as a guide and cut it out and bent it into shap using the heat gun. It did take some time but I was in no rush.
locodave Posted February 16, 2015 Posted February 16, 2015 I new windscreen is around the thousand dollar mark. They are expensive. There is a place in seven hills that does them if you google it.
Rud Posted April 20, 2015 Posted April 20, 2015 To anyone contemplating Polycarbonate as a replacement in a curved frame be very careful, it is very hard to bend and once in the frame needs heating to exaxtly 150 to 165 degrees C to maintain its shape, any more you get bubbles inside, any less it won't hold it's shape (not even after 3 months in the sun and rain) the plastic protection on both sides will shrivel up at that temperature as well. It also can't take screws or bolts through it to hold the top half of the frame in place if you have a canopy so you need to make aluminium straps (I made 5), it is sensitive to stress and lots of cleaning solvents, it scratches easily unless you pay 4 times the price for the treated surface type. It can be cut with a fine blade at high speed in a jigsaw and also with tin snips, the edges can be "polished" with a butane gas torch. I tried 3mm UV2 (means both sides) which cost me $135.80 for a 2.4 M by 600 mm sheet and I bought some rubber U channel to make it rattle free (the gap in the frame was about 5mm from the old perspex) and that costs about $7.00 per metre, I bought 5 metres and that is ruined too even though I widened the gap to 6mm with a router to take the poly and rubber. Polycarbonate is used in riot shields and bullet proof vehicles and bus shelters because it is unbreakable unless you let me at it, I broke the thing at the bend when I tried to force it into shape, must have been weakened by the previous heating attempt. If you know of a place that can put it in a hot box at the very tight temperature band then you should be right, myself will go Perspex and heat gun if I can't get a reasonable, cheap used screen.
locodave Posted April 20, 2015 Posted April 20, 2015 Interesting, how come you know so much about this?
Rud Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 Hi locodave Bitter and expensive experience, I Googled all the info and history of the stuff before I started, but love is blind and I didn't foresee any problem I couldn't handle, I am totally humbled now not only with the windscreen but also after spending a month sanding, applying and sanding off again that magic flow coat that never flowed or even sat down flat enough on the boat's bottom (the boat is upside down)(to get rid of the brush and/or roller marks), after 4 coats on the bottom and 7 on the transom I still have dark areas so I'm going to paint it with Rustoleum 2X spray cans from Bunnings (primer and gloss enamel in each can), cost me 4 cans @ $10.95 each so $43.80 for 4 times 425 (that's right, "large project size") so I have 1.7 litres where a normal 1 litre can costs around $40,00 anyway and Rustoleum is supposed to cover 4 and a bit square metres per aerosol can. Another thing is I read later that Gelcoat and Flow coat are very hard (I've used well over $100.00 worth of sandpaper to prove it) so will crack if you try covering existing stress cracks wereas enamel is more elastic and I'm happy to believe that, the boat won't be in the water very often and any repairs are only $10.95 away, might use it for the top as well seeing it comes in colours in our local paint shop. I also bought a DA (dual action) pneumatic sander because it needs 110psi minimum and my compressor gives 115psi maximum, once again blindness forgot to factor in the pressure drop when you open the trigger, it slows down so there is only single action after that and I went back to the electric mouse sanders (on my third one now). Should put this in hull repair forums.
locodave Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 Mate you should post some pics up of your work! I had a cracked windscreen and I thought I was going to get glass for the price they were asking. The one I had in the boat had cracks on it and was definitely replaced. Whoever did it, probably tightened it too much or who knows, maybe heated it too much for the bend!
martymonsta Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 The place in Seven Hills quoted me (about 18 months ago) about a grand to replace the plastic screen on my Ally Craft half cabin. Found a guy in Lidcombe who quoted me $700 if he'd come to my place and remove the windscreen himself before replacing or $600 for me to bring it to him to be replaced. I took the 2nd option and the result was great, but exxy for what it is. Not sure if links are allowed. Marty
locodave Posted April 21, 2015 Posted April 21, 2015 No links of the guy that did it but keen to see how your windshield turned out. Did you fit it yourself then?
Rud Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 (edited) locodave suggested I post pictures of my attempted screen replacement, I haven't many but I'll do some.First the set up on a warm day where I held the frame together with coat hanger wire and luggage straps, there are two 2000 watt fan heaters inside the bend and they raised the temperature of the poly to nearly 100 deg C, I then played the heat gun on the outside until I noticed a change in shape happening, too late! I got internal bubbles, supposed to be trapped water and you're meant to dry the poly in a drying room for 48 hours at a temperature I forgot. The second picture is of the screen assembled but it isn't anywhere near as good as it looks, bubbles, crazing caused by a hard blow to the frame when it refused to go onto the poly and the third picture is just what half a sheet of polycarbonate looks like with the protective plastic both sides, 2.4 metres by 600mm cost me $135.80. I haven't taken a picture since I broke it, maybe tomorrow. Pictures appeared out of sequence, so it's 3, 2, 1 Edited April 22, 2015 by Rud
locodave Posted April 22, 2015 Posted April 22, 2015 not a job for me! Wow, that looks pretty intense. So if you get the heat wrong you stuff it up! You have someone else helping you applying the bend? How do you know the angle to bend though? If you go too far in and need to push it out, will it crack?
Rud Posted April 23, 2015 Posted April 23, 2015 (edited) Hi locodave, I had no help getting it in the frame using lots of stromg tie straps (scratching off all the lovely paint I had on the frame, Dymark Silver Gal, it has a clear coat finish look) and I wanted to bend it properly within the frame because it had tremendous strength trying to pop out, bulging even, I figured if I heat it to the right temperature it will just relax into the frame's contours and it did but after seeing the bubbles I didn't do the other side. I originally tested a scrap piece about 1" wide and bent it cold with pliers and finished it in the vise, worked beatifully, just had some uneven shape at both edges (slight distortion of vision) and it was actually doubled over without showing any signs of cracking and that gave me confidence to try the screen itself, would have been OK if I had been more careful. So to answer your second question, if I had thought of it I could have used a steel piece of pipe about 8" diameter and heated it and the screen together with more control, the actual size of the bend would be approximate but a lot better than something superstrong trying to stay straight And the third question, it becomes quite flexible at the right temperature and doesn't seem to cool very quickly so you have time to adjust it if you were making something not in a frame, don't know if you can get scraps from suppliers, maybe small sizes at higher prices. Foun anothe photo; Edited April 23, 2015 by Rud
martymonsta Posted April 24, 2015 Posted April 24, 2015 I don't have the boat anymore but it was fairly easy to put the aluminium frame (with replaced windscreen) back on the boat myself. Just screwed/bolted back into the original holes on the hull. Marty
Rud Posted April 24, 2015 Posted April 24, 2015 (edited) I have copied my posts to my own thread called; "Need A New Windscreen For My Boat" and added some more content. Edited April 24, 2015 by Rud
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