Windshield Work Part 1 - Quartzsite, AZ

Monday - This morning, we moved the RV to the work area in front of his shelter where he has his tools and supplies. All of the Gorilla tape was removed as well as the lock strip from the rubber windshield seal to prepare for removal of the glass. 

This is the passenger side upper corner. You can see how much urethane was used to try and compensate for the poor fit. The windshield seal only overlapped the fiberglass by about 3/16”.

Here is the urethane that was cut off of the windshield from the corner shown above. The extra material was just to try and fill in the gap. The repair is to add fiberglass to the cap to reduce the size of the opening so the windshield actually fits. 

Here, Jeff is removing some headliner material as the underlying wood is misshaped and puts pressure on the windshield. It was only attached to the underlying structure with two screws and both were broken. Without the support, the upper part of the front cap flexes a lot and probably contributes to the problem. Especially as it flexes upwards away from the windshield. 

Almost an inch of wood is being trimmed off before the upholstery is glued and stapled back in place. Pretty sloppy construction…

After masking off the opening to keep out the fiberglass dust, the outside surface was cleaned of urethane and paint in preparation for a layer of fiberglass extending the edge. Material is just being added to the top as it doesn’t need to be structural. The weight of the windshield is being supported by the fiberglass on the bottom. The fiberglass is really thin so the additional material will really help keep it more rigid. The manufacturer is using the windshield to strengthen the front cap instead of adding reinforcement to the fiberglass. 

The first four layers of fabric with the resin and hardener. He used 4oz of resin with 40 drops of hardener. The next batch will have more hardener as it was taking more than the 12minutes listed to harden. After it hardens, it will be sanded, painted, and cut to match the glass. These steps will happen tomorrow as it’s almost 5pm right now and there is still 7’ of fiberglass to do.