When I last wrote about that bloody windshield frame, things were not going well. While it looked great outside, the frame fit very poorly to the boat. If this was a typical Chesapeake crabber’s boat, a 3/8″ gap between the windshield frame and the hard top might not be a problem–just fill ‘er in with urethane sealant. But since this isn’t a work boat, I wanted (and paid for) a frame that fits. When the fabricator declared he’d do no more work on the frame, I had to call in my Boatamalan* painter to fix the southern Maryland fabricator’s handiwork.
* Boatamalan = joking portmanteau referring to the Central American origin of the fairing crew and painter (boat + Guatamalan). In fact, the Boatamalans are mostly from Honduras, but Boatduran doesn’t roll off the tongue like Boatamalan does. 🙂
Here’s what we’re dealing with:
3/16″ irregular gap at the port side bottom
Starboard upper corner was waaaay off
One of three high spots contacting the hard top
Zero contact at the port-side inner upright
Brand new Awlgrip got dinged up
The paint getting scratched really added insult to injury, since tape is cheap and I put a whole case of it out for the fabricator to use when the tape needed replacing. Instead of spending five minutes replacing tape, he let it get worn out and then got sloppy installing the frame (over and over again because it didn’t fit right because he welded it together off the boat). Sheesh
More dinged up paint on the port side
Swiss Cheese from all the holes the fabricator drilled…and note the scratched paint
More Swiss cheese…too many holes!
Also in the pic above, note the chip in the brand new Awlgrip paint that would be visible above the windshield frame. The fabricator’s proposed solution: “Cover it with urethane sealant.”
Sheesh…whatever happened to “American quality?”
We’ll see if Boatamalan skills and an amateur American boat refitter can put some quality back into the job. 😉
The repair process begins with blue mold release tape and a grinder to knock down high spots
Same on the starboard side
Blue mold release tape on the frame
Blue mold release tape covering the top and bottom contact areas of the frame
Heavyweight fiberglass will fill the gaps
Wetting out the fiberglass fabric
Epoxy fairing compound tops the frame to fill in any imperfections, followed by wetted out ‘glass
The fairing compound is the same homemade stuff we used when we faired the cabintop. It’s epoxy thickened with a 70/30 mix of 3M glass bubbles and cabosil.
Top the first layer with more fairing compound and another layer of ‘glass
Areas with big gaps get a 3rd layer
Top the layers of fiberglass with another layer of fairing compound
Fairing compound on the lower frame landing will fill the gaps there
Ready to slide up in place and fasten
Nice fit at the top starboard corner
Good fit along the bottom
Looking good at the uprights
On the inside, no more high spots
Huge gaps? What huge gaps?
Good contact all the way across the top
100% contact all the way across the top and bottom should eliminate pressure points that are prone to cracking
With the sticky epoxy dripping everywhere, we slowly backed away from the helm station and let everything cure. Time will tell if the plan works… 😉
Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Helm Station Windshield III
1969chriscraftroamer46 
Ok lookin good, leaving room for windshield wiper motors? I am figuring a setup for my penn yan now , what length shaft do I need……
Victor, I’m impressed! I wondered if anybody would pick up on theThe WS wipers have been on my mind for a while. I still have the originals and intend to use them. Ideally, I would have drilled the holes and welded in tube so there would be no chance of water getting inside the frame through the wiper hole. But because I’m not using the original windshield scheme (I’m ordering the set from Motion Windows, same as my bow seat windows), I’d be guessing where the wipers will need to be and whether or not the OE mechanisms will fit the new frames (both the welded super-frame and the Motion Windows frames). So, my plan now is to rely on Rain-X and someday think about installing the wipers.
Cheers,
Q
My experience here in South Fl with salt water splashing on the windshield treated with rainx. lasted one day never again, so Im springing for decent motors and arms, its nice to see shaft lengths going to 3 1/2 inches on some of the motors, fancy panotropic sweeps, parking positions, control.panels, adjustable speed control knobs, covers for the motors, motors.up to $400 each…..gotta do it for safetys sake…..
That makes sense. I’m up on a river in fresh water. The boat will see salt once when I transit the Chesapeake, then I should have several years in fresh water to figure out if my original motors will work before it sees salt again.
Anyway…something to keep in mind.
Cheers,
Q
Nice work!
Thanks, Stephen!
It just keeps getting better. I love it when there are updates. I hope to retire and do exactly what you’ve done to my old Commander. It’s all a labor of love.
Thanks Will! Let me know if you ever start a blog on it!
Q
Looks like your doing a GREAT job, to bad others have messed up.