Aluminium windscreen frames

Our technical section for all matters related to the care, maintenance and restoration of your classic boat.

Moderators: Alacrity, Rapier

User avatar
welshhealey
Posts: 267
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:14 am
CMBA Member: 71

Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by welshhealey »

Just wondering if anyone knows of a company who could make a replacement aluminium windscreen frame for my Winner ?and hopefully, supply and fit complete with new Perspex etc I’m prepared to travel but some company not to far from S.Wales preferably ,thanks in advance.

Bronteboxer
Posts: 119
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2012 10:21 pm
CMBA Member: 915
Location: Norfolk

Re: Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by Bronteboxer »

Did you ever find anybody to make the frame and screen please?

Trying to have a frame and screen made at a sensible price for my restoration has stopped the job for a couple of years, plus life getting in the way. I can’t finish my deck until I have this solved, as I would probably damage the deck in fiddling with a frame etc as a first fix.

I think it’s three years now since posted in my resto on here. But it’s still here and moving forwards slowly. A screen and frame would give it a kick up stern!

User avatar
welshhealey
Posts: 267
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:14 am
CMBA Member: 71

Re: Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by welshhealey »

Hi there !
After a long battle ringing and emailing different companies, no pun intended but I run aground !, if I didn’t make 50 phone calls I didn’t make one .
The main problem was, the extrusion on the Winner Cobra is now obsolete( as per normal with classic boats) unless you search the USA at a price ! so one company wanted £600.00 alone to set up the machines to make the new extrusion frame ! However, one name that kept cropping up was “ Seaglaze” near Norwich that specialises in bespoke designs, there are more companies down south near Colchester which the names escapes me at present, the aforementioned company has a good website and if you have the old frame as a pattern you are half way there with regards to cost. Getting back to the Winner scenario I managed to locate a local metal polisher/ restorer that will cut out corroded areas, aluminium weld it, polish it then powder coat it ( or similar process) to match the existing remaining frame colour that is very near perfect condition ( whereby I left sleeping dogs lie) so the refurbed pieces will allow me to drill fresh fixing holes ready to place the new pieces of bronze tinted polycarbonate. In fact, I just ordered online, the glazing rubber to replace the old perished ones. :thumbsup:

Bronteboxer
Posts: 119
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2012 10:21 pm
CMBA Member: 915
Location: Norfolk

Re: Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by Bronteboxer »

Thanks for the response, much appreaciated. My project is under restoration projects on this forum. ‘Rebuild started - Wooden runabout’ I started it in 2012 and my last post was 2017, so I don’t blame anybody for thinking it’s dead! (It’s had 40,000 views!)

However it’s very much still alive, if very slow progress. My big issue has been sourcing a screen and frame. I live near Norwich and as a coincidence, have already visited Seaglaze in Rackheath, the place you mention. Sadly they were not really interested in my little project. They seem to be high end suppliers and would have probably wanted me to sell my house to pay for a screen and frame, even if I could have persuaded them to look at it! I showed them pictures and they shook their collective heads.

I did get a screen made in flat 5mill polycarbonate, but when it arrived, having been assured that it would bend as needed, it will not bend at each end to make up the 45deg turns on the screen ends. Like you I have tried lots of people, including a plastic sign firm in Norwich, who said yes, but then sold their oven!

I have a firm in Yorkshire near my daughters who might be able to form one, but only in 3mill, but even if they did, that still leaves me with frame and fixings to resolve. In 1958 when my boat was made this must have been an easy job, now in 2019, seemingly its a big deal. If I could crack this it would be done and on the water next spring, all the hard work is done. It’s very annoying.

User avatar
welshhealey
Posts: 267
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:14 am
CMBA Member: 71

Re: Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by welshhealey »

Yes, you are so correct, it’s very frustrating and annoying, especially in this modern day when technology allows us to create almost anything ! and as always, the first question most companies will ask when you show them what you require is “ how many hundred of these do you want sir ??? “ :? Whilst surfing the net, I come across two fabulous looking companies and according to their website, was possible to do exactly what I wanted whereby you drive the boat to them, they will re create your existing design, I thought wow , then looked at the address, One was in Australia, the other New Zealand ... great :grrr: I will source out the other place I found and get back to this topic soon :thumbsup:
Last edited by welshhealey on Mon Sep 02, 2019 10:45 pm, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
welshhealey
Posts: 267
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:14 am
CMBA Member: 71

Re: Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by welshhealey »

Here you go, look these guys up; South East Marine Windows, email ; southeastmarine.uk@virgin.net
They have a web site that is pretty explicit, just tap above company into google and it will find them, they are based in Burnham -on -Crouch which is where one of our contributors to this forum lives ! :perfect: worth a try as according to the website, they make windscreens and frames .

User avatar
welshhealey
Posts: 267
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:14 am
CMBA Member: 71

Re: Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by welshhealey »

Hi All,
A long time has passed since the last message was posted on here about finding an aluminium windscreen supplier, so, here is an update with a happy ending :chuffed:
After many phone calls , Internet surfing, I managed to find a supplier . The company is called Simmal who are based just outside Preston, I sent in the old ones and they machined new channel to the requirements I needed, they even cut and mitred the sections ready to put the new Perspex into the frames :perfect: excellent service and highly recommended , contact name is Greg, and if you mention the CMBA, he will probably remember the job he did for me, I did promise to pass on my recommendations if anyone should need a similar job done . :thumbsup:

Bronteboxer
Posts: 119
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2012 10:21 pm
CMBA Member: 915
Location: Norfolk

Re: Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by Bronteboxer »

Pleased to see you have finally managed to get your screen sorted, re my previous response on this topic. Whilst I haven’t posted anytbing on my ‘Wooden boat Restoration’ topic for a couple of years, it’s still not dead! I’ve been working on it.

Last November a friend who has a bottling/canning business saw my boat/problem and said he had to have safety guards made and formed for his machinery in the stuff that riot shields are made of. They are not drape heat moulded, but rolled! I gave him my pattern and some months later I had a formed screen - seemingly it’s bullet proof! The shape wasn’t quite right, but I managed to reform it using a heat gun and pressure, it’s not totally perfect, but it looks OK.

I then managed to get some aluminium strip cut locally from a friendly boat screen maker (he doesn’t do curved screens or small boats, it’s all Broads cruisers, sliding window stuff) It’s made specially so it can be tanalised and formed with care. I managed to make the compound curve for the screen base and for the top edge we are putting some bendy car type trim on. Being pessimistic about this idea, I was surprised how good it looked. All this was done during lockdown. I haven’t a shot to post at the moment, as I’m not with the boat.

I am intending to update my restoration topic middle of next month. As Boris has degreed from tomorrow Sat 15th August, all returners from France will be 2 weeks quarantine when we return, I will have lots of time on the boat again! I might even get it finished, it’s quite close now.

User avatar
welshhealey
Posts: 267
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:14 am
CMBA Member: 71

Re: Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by welshhealey »

Well done ! Sounds as if you’ve been busy during lockdown with a pleasing satisfying result.
Will look forward to seeing the pictures some time :thumbsup:
Luckily for me the Winner Cobra windscreen did not have any curves to contend with.
All that remains to be done now is the painstaking task of putting all back together, tricky job to do solo, so will have to have another pair of hands me thinks. :hmmm:

User avatar
welshhealey
Posts: 267
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:14 am
CMBA Member: 71

Re: Aluminium windscreen frames

Post by welshhealey »

A while back I started a thread about replacing my Winner Cobra windscreen, not sure if the people who posted on this thread will see this after such a while since the first message, but here below are the images of the finished job :thumbsup:
D698EF18-D748-4589-8692-DAE61091F29A.jpeg
Attachments
53C67883-1574-40E8-B86C-29C0540E81D7.jpeg
FA1532E8-A8DA-4A21-B003-1380EDC7769E.jpeg

Post Reply