South Shore Boatworks Captain. Joined Oct 28, Posts Likes They can rough cut the windows or cut to the exact size. I have purchased both clear and tinted lexan. Great service. It's just my take on the subject. When we built our boat, my dad opted for the lexan because he already had it from another project he worked on. We installed it with rubber channeled strip that had channels for the pane on the bottom and one on top for the plywood.
Although they never leaked, they did become hazy and and scratched to where it got hard to see through if the sun was in your face. I'm sure the product has been way improved over the years. We ended up replacing all the lexan with safety glass. Problem solved for us, anyway. Thanks for the replys. Have procrastinated on the window replacement. Will check out that source. Would be nice to see clear again! Blitzen Admiral. The problem is that Lexan was originally advertised as a almost indestructible alternative to glass.
I went down that route with my old lobster boat and was very disappointed with how quickly they scratched and hazed. GE quickly came out with the Marguard version of Lexan, which is just a coating on the surface. It made the product X better and I would consider it for any windows. Joined Jan 30, Posts Likes I had some custom laminated glass windows made. Once I washed a Lexan window on a boat I had, and used Tide detergent.
Could hardly see anything through it after that. What should I do to remove some light scratches from one of the windows, do I need to use both products?
I have two polishing machines available to use. One is a waxmaster with a 12 inch pad foam or terry covers , this is a random orbit polisher. The other is a rotary polisher, I have 6 inch foam pads for this and use it for compounding the boat. Which is the better polisher to use with the meguiars products? Thanks in advance, Louie. Jan 31st, , AM 2.
With any luck, the water spots you're trying to remove are merely "Topical" and not "Etchings" into the Lexan. The reason for this is that from our personal experience, Lexan does not like to be abraded with the end goal having the Lexan look clear and defect free. The plastic is just too hard. If the water spots are just topical stains, then you should be able to remove these stains using a product we have called PlastX by hand or machine, either of your machine should work.
The important thing to remember is that you alway want to "touch" the Lexan with only clean, soft applicators, pads and wiping cloths as to prevent instilling any scratches into it because it's so hard to remove them out of it. Here's the link to PlastX, you should be able to find it in most auto parts stores as well as stores like Target and Wal-Mart PlastX Also, do a search on this forum using the word PlastX and you'll bring up a plethora of interesting threads.
We have the back window out of a Ferrari that is Lexan and so far nothing we've tried using to actually machine buff scratches out of it has worked. WE have not tried our new M and we will give this a try but be forewarned that historically, Lexan is very hard to work with.
Again, welcome! Mike Phillips Office: x Mike. Phillips Autogeek. Jan 31st, , AM 3. Too bad I just ordered 4 bottles each of 17 and The builder of my boat warned against using an abrasive product on the windows. He said the windows are "hardcoat" coated.
Their is some merit to what he is saying, My boom dropped too low on a tack and scratched the top of my cockpit sunroof windows. Where the scratches occurred the window is now clear in that area.
These are different then my last boat, which used smoked acrylic windows, the tint was throughout the full thickness of the window. It appears with these hardcoat lexan windows, the tint is somehow a surface coating. So I question whether the plastx would be the proper product to use on this type of window. Please remember, too, that I have added no wax. What you see is what you get, the polished portions are clearer than the unpolished sections.
Plus, there is still a bit of dust on the windshield, wax will clean it up. You have to remember that my windshield was so bad I literally could not see through it a few feet ahead of me. Next, we want to add a good quality wax. It works great! Why do this? It adds a layer of protection on the windshield and fills in any micro scratches for an even clearer windshield. I used two coats of wax. The wax coating lasts me about a week of riding. I ride a lot off road, because I live on a dirt road And for fun sometimes and I repeatedly will go through dust clouds and dust storms, so my windshield is really exposed to elements that are never seen in a city.
Your wax coating may last quite a bit longer than mine. Just wax on, let it dry, wax off, grasshopper. Now is a good time to put a coat of wax or two on the mounting hardware! The wax really helps. My poor windshield has been used and abused, and worst of all, taped. I can actually see through it now, which is a small miracle for me. I think it is important to say at this point, that the lower bib portion was washed, and waxed ONLY. I did not polish it.
You can see what the polishing does, and the waxing does for the main upper portion of the windshield. The wax helps the lower bib, but when ti wears off you are hosed. Plus, it still doesn't look anywhere near as good as the main portion with the wax and the polish. Thanks for reading. This is a great Instructable, but you need to add a main image of the final project to the intro step. Please do that and leave me a message when you have so that we can publish your work.
Reply 12 years ago. Good, common sense, easy to follow guide. One criticism You show a can of polish in the section on waxing. Polish may have wax in it, but it also has compound.
If you really want wax, buy a product that isn't labeled as polish, it's wax. Plenty of both available. No7 is going for around 9 bucks these days I made my own windshield out of a polycarbonate to fit the old brackets from JFreeman Inc they have DOT approved things sold in left over pieces that make good replacement shields. I work with Lexan daily, and you can't really polish it, you just make the scratches smaller.
The compound fills them in, for a while. Lexan is used for it's strength to deflect debris off of the rider , Acrylic is too brittle and shatters on impact. Not good on a bike if you get hit by a chunk of tire going 55 mph.
Reply 6 years ago on Introduction. All polishing of all materials is just making the scratches smaller, whether that be steel, diamond, wood or plastic.
Acrylic is much cheaper. Watch out using any household detergents or any household glass cleaners as these contain ammonia and ammonia is deadly to acrylic and some other plastics. Even if immediately no damage is visible a clouding and eventually crazing is caused by ammonia. Reply 12 years ago on Introduction. I hear you. But I do know that I can actually see the road better now, before when a wash and a wax didn't hardly do anything. Also, if you look, there are windshields made of acrylic, and companies who specialize in restoring them.
And ah've found an assorted pack of , , , and grit sandpaper a local autoparts store, although, like Tunny sic , this is only a very last resort for the worst case. Also, sems rain-x i not a good thing to use on lexan as a wax Only use sandpaper to remove scratches that are too deep to be removed by the Plastx. The purpose of the sandpaper is to get the surface flat, as light reflects off the scratches, which causes the glare and haze. Use the highest grit that will cut the surface to the point that the scratches don't show.
I use for really rough plastic , then for light haze , then for restoring the translucency , wet-or-dry sandpaper. When you use the sandpaper, always do 2 things. First, rub the sandpaper against itself several times before use. That will knock down the larger pieces of grit that would leave deeper scratches.
Second, always wet sand! What I do is sand with water first, getting a uniformly smooth surface. You don't want any scratches showing that are deeper than others. Then using the same piece of sandpaper, I put the Plastx on the plastic and sand, using the Plastx as the lubricant instead of water. I use the old piece of sandpaper because it has all the high pieces of grit already worn off and won't add any deep scratches, like a new piece would. Then use the Plastx by itself with a polishing cloth.
I hope this helps. It does an exelent job. Tundrawolf, Hi! Great job, thanks!
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