Making a Molded Windshield for your Boat
You asked where I got my windshield. Well, after some research, I found that most places wanted about $400.00 to heat form a windshield and you still need the moldings for the top & bottom edges. (I have about $160.00 in mine).
The plastic I used is 1/8 inch Lexan which is very flexible, but won't crack or split when bent cold. The moldings are a little more tricky. It involves annealing extruded aluminum stock and then shaping it around a wooden buck.
The following photos show the process I used to bend aluminum for the windshield moldings.
Photo #1. This is the size aluminum I used for the moldings of my
windshield. 1"x1" angle and 1/4"x1/2" channel aluminum. It
is available at hardware stores, metal supplies, McMaster supply, etc. The
aluminum is not soft enough to bend easily so it has to be annealed. These
photos show how to bend the bottom of the windshield moldings.
After you make a cardboard pattern for the size and shape of your windshield,
make the base that the plastic and lower molding will screw to, cut the plastic
to fit your pattern,screw the plastic to your base. This will get you close to
your final shape of the windshield, shape your channel molding over the top
edge of the windshield. The base of my windshield is angled 35 degrees in the
middle and 10 degrees at the sides.