preventing windscreen glare

oGaryo

oGaryo

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I had real trouble looking through the windscreen on our last trip out due to the sun shining off the white grp immediately below the windscreen towards the front of the helm position inside the boat. It was bad enough that I was concerned I'd miss spotting a pot marker or something equally nasty.

Is there anything that can be done that's not dramatic to reduce the reflection of the helm onto the windscreen? I don't want to be in the game of painting the helm a different colour for example, I'm thinking more along the lines of a sprayed on coating for the windscreen that resists reflections, similar to that sprayed on to spectacles.

many thanks Gary
 
I've been thinking about the same thing. We get a lot of sun where I am and I had window tint film put on my car. It really keeps the heat out of the car in the back and the light down; great for the kids and we no longer need blinds to stop them being dazzled. That is fine on side windows and I will probably do that on the boat (when I get it), it keeps the UV down massively so will protect the surfaces too.

But what about windscreens, you need to keep the UV and visible light down, but whilst wanting to protect your surfaces and prevent glare, you do actually need to be able to see.

...should you put tinted film on your windscreen and if so what %age transparency?
 
I've seen black mesh netting cut to shape and pops studded in a few places to keep glare down. I think is was a Princess V39 or V45, can't quite remember but it looked like the same stuff the use on top of windscreens in the med to keep heat down on main saloon of flybridges.
 
Much better to make (with paint or otherwise) the top of the dash black than do something to the windscreen glass tint, imho. Builders have cottoned onto this and now most dash tops seem to be black or grey

If there is a flat panel you can cut a bit of 5mm plywood and cover it in black vinyl perhaps. Depends on the detail of your boat's shape and this might not work easily

A quick fix is to buy a roll of that black non slip mesh stuff and cut a big triangle and place it atop the white dash. It doesn't slide off cos it's non slip, and will drape itself nicely across somewhat non flat surfaces, a bit
 
thanks guys, I like the idea of the none slip mesh. The majority of the S28's dash is blue in the 2005 model I have which I presume has been done as you say John to purposely cut down on the glare. It's the strip of white grp forward of the dash that causes the glare so I'll cut out the mesh to cover it whenever the sun's shining too brightly.
 
Do you wear polarised sun glasses ?

It is amazing how much of this type of glare they cut out.

I was on my boat with charts under the screen, the reflection from the screen was really bad to the naked eye but with a decent set of polarised sun glasses it all but disapears.

So if you have not tried polarised glasses yet try them and a black towel as suggested.

Cheap ones have the same effect but dark grey Ray Bans are the best and cut out the glare from any surface.
 
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As JFM suggests - use the non slip mat/mesh stuff. We bought ours from here - http://www.practicalsurfaceware.com/non-slip-matting/by-the-metre/eco-per-reg-non-slip-fabric-roll-by-the-metre-72-width.html. They do various widths and colours and you can buy it by the metre. They do mesh, but looks like they also do more solid material types as well now. Just cut to the shape of the entire console area and drape over - no fixings required. Works well, just requiring it to be lifted and hoovered underneath occasionally. Ours has been in place for about three years now - looks like it will last about another year or two before needing to be replaced.
Mike
 
oGaryo said:
I had real trouble looking through the windscreen on our last trip out due to the sun shining off the white grp immediately below the windscreen towards the front of the helm position inside the boat. It was bad enough that I was concerned I'd miss spotting a pot marker or something equally nasty.

Is there anything that can be done that's not dramatic to reduce the reflection of the helm onto the windscreen? I don't want to be in the game of painting the helm a different colour for example, I'm thinking more along the lines of a sprayed on coating for the windscreen that resists reflections, similar to that sprayed on to spectacles.

many thanks Gary
Click to expand...

On evenstar 3 I had a shaped cover made out of the navy blue canvas material that poppered down. Didn't look out of place and worked a treat.

A dark towel will do in the interim.

edit should have stated the obvious - onto the horizontal bit of the dash and over the binnacle.

The chart table is OK, it's just everything forward of the instuments you need to cover up.
 
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Same problem on our Broom.....solved with a bespoke black canvas cover held down with presstuds as already suggested. Looks very neat and does the job
 
I use this none slip matting ,also protects from stratching .Rolls up and stores when you leave the boat.
I guess really it need a graphite flec paint job .But this works .
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Or a beach towel for a quick fix?

On the subject of polarised sunglasses (as mentioned previously in this thread) - Oakley's '00' Polarised lenses are not only brilliant for cutting out the glare but also let you see all of your nav gear in bright light as well..... Fully recommended..
 
oGaryo said:
I had real trouble looking through the windscreen on our last trip out due to the sun shining off the white grp immediately below the windscreen towards the front of the helm position inside the boat. It was bad enough that I was concerned I'd miss spotting a pot marker or something equally nasty.

Is there anything that can be done that's not dramatic to reduce the reflection of the helm onto the windscreen? I don't want to be in the game of painting the helm a different colour for example, I'm thinking more along the lines of a sprayed on coating for the windscreen that resists reflections, similar to that sprayed on to spectacles.

many thanks Gary
Click to expand...

Stop taking the piss Gaz, for the last four years none of us (med boaters excused) has had this problem, the bloody sun hasn't shone bright enough!

If all you got to moan about is it's too sunny, then as far as I'm concerned there's nothing to moan about!

Jeesh!

Now depletion of CDM bars going missing everytime shouting DUNSTABLE'S about, that I can sympathise with, but too sunny, Reeeally! get a grip.

if you must find an excuse to spend money buy some ray bans.
 
Quite unbelievable that boat builders don't address this at the time of build because it is an obvious problem. Broom obviously sussed it though because I have seen later models of our boat with black dashboard tops
 
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