Windshield Work Part 3 - Quartzsite, AZ

Wednesday - It's too windy today for any work on the RV windshield. The opening is covered with plastic. I hope it holds up to the wind and rain. 

There is a test session scheduled for this morning with one person signed up who happens to be in Fairbanks plus one more who hopped in at the last minute. And, since it was last minute, he wasn’t prepped ahead of time and probably didn’t read all of the requirements. But it was all good. He passed easily in spite of the stress of a last-minute test. 

Around 11am, it started to rain sporadically. Just enough to get the pavement damp. It continued throughout the afternoon with a total of 0.25” of rain. The wind changed direction so I ended up rigging a tarp over the plastic covering the windshield opening. 

Thursday - Sunny but not really warm this morning. It was just after noon and 57°F with a light wind from the north. Hence the cooler temperature. I turned the RV around so the back end is now facing into the wind. The fiberglass/bondo is being sanded in preparation for primer/paint/clear coat. The cardboard is the height of the windshield and is much easier to maneuver than the heavy windshield to measure where to cut the additional fiberglass. 

After marking the cut line, the straight part of the top was trimmed. The glass was set in place using short sections of the rubber seal and the upper corner cut line was established. The glass was removed and the fiberglass was trimmed.

One side is almost there. Just about another ⅛” to be trimmed and a little more work on the corner. It’s a nice tight fit which provides additional support for the fiberglass cap above the windshield. Without trimming, it was a little bit too tight though the glass did fit in. 

Several more trial fittings and small trimming later, one side is fitting nicely. 

Friday - A much better fit than before. Both the body and the windshield are now fully seated into the rubber seal. Before, there would be a ¼" gap between the body and the rubber seal when it was fully seated on the glass. Around a half inch was added all across the front and around the corners. In some areas, such as this corner, almost ¾" was added. This corner was one of the most problematic locations.

This morning, work began on the driver's side glass after some additional fiberglass was added last night to add some more thickness to a couple of sections.

I'm taking the opportunity to participate in another test session this morning. 

Later - We ended up testing two people serially. 

After masking the area off, two coats of primer followed by very light sanding. Then two coats of paint followed by a couple coats of clear. Install windshield and it’s almost done. 

Before sunset, both halves of the windshield are in! Urethane and the lock strips still need to done but they fit really good.