Cracked Cee Bailey's Windshield - Need Repair Shop

[CharlieWaffles]

When I built our -10, I purchased and installed the after-market windshield by Cee Bailey's. It was installed using Lord Adhesive from Aerosport Products and had several layers of glass over the transition from the windshield to the canopy.

About 4 years ago I noticed a finger-length stress crack in the upper portion of my RV10 windshield. There was a hairline crack at the transition point and the crack extended about 5" from the edge. It was stop-drilled with a #40 bit and filled with some non-rigid "goop". The hairline crack was touched up with some paint sealant. The crack appeared to be stable for the last 4 years with no further visible changes.

This weekend I noticed a new extension of the crack extending from the stop drill. This new one was another 1" and the crack at the canopy transition is more apparent than before. A #30 stop-drill was made as an immediate remediation option.

It appears there are likely to be ongoing stability issues and possibly more cracking. It seems like it may be best to get the windshield replaced, but it's frankly outside of my time and interest.

I'm not sure if there are any options to stabilizing the crack, so my assumption is the windshield needs to get replaced. However, calls to our usual mechanic and Synergy Air have resulted in either no expertise or an extreme backlog (until 2024).

Are there any recommendations on short/long term repairs and any recommendations for shops in the NW that could do the remove and replace of the windshield?

 

[jrs14855]

Cracking

You need to repair the fiberglas as well as the acrylic. For the Acrylic bond a strip of flat material on the inside of the windshield. Acrylic cement and clamped with hard foam strips and clamps and wood spacers as required to position the clamps. Light clamping pressure is all that's required. You could try to repair just the crack with no doubler. Open up the crack a minimal amount with a die grinder and thin wheel. Packaging tape on the inside and mask the edges on the outside. Thicken some acrylic cement with some ground acrylic material, fill the crack and tape to preventing running out of the crack. The pros can do this so perfectly the crack will be invisible.
The fiberglas repair should be done first.
The B25 people at Chino CA have a separate acrylic shop but I don't know if they take any outside work other than warbirds.

 

[jrs14855]

cracks

Virtually all cracks starting at the edge are due to a rough finish on the edge. The edges should be a perfect finish with light chamfer's on the edges. Block sanding with 320 paper to start finishing with 400 or even 500 is one method. Flat mill files with very fine teeth is another option. File held 90 degrees to the edge and "drawn" along the edge.

 

[rvbuilder2002]

When I built our -10, I purchased and installed the after-market windshield by Cee Bailey's. It was installed using Lord Adhesive from Aerosport Products and had several layers of glass over the transition from the windshield to the canopy.

About 4 years ago I noticed a finger-length stress crack in the upper portion of my RV10 windshield. There was a hairline crack at the transition point and the crack extended about 5" from the edge. It was stop-drilled with a #40 bit and filled with some non-rigid "goop". The hairline crack was touched up with some paint sealant. The crack appeared to be stable for the last 4 years with no further visible changes.

This weekend I noticed a new extension of the crack extending from the stop drill. This new one was another 1" and the crack at the canopy transition is more apparent than before. A #30 stop-drill was made as an immediate remediation option.

It appears there are likely to be ongoing stability issues and possibly more cracking. It seems like it may be best to get the windshield replaced, but it's frankly outside of my time and interest.

I'm not sure if there are any options to stabilizing the crack, so my assumption is the windshield needs to get replaced. However, calls to our usual mechanic and Synergy Air have resulted in either no expertise or an extreme backlog (until 2024).

Are there any recommendations on short/long term repairs and any recommendations for shops in the NW that could do the remove and replace of the windshield?

Hi Mark,
Working on repair and maint. projects like this for RV owners is what I am doing part time now in retirement.
Shoot me a PM if you are interested in talking about it.

Scott