Scared the @#$% our of us

[jleger98]

Picture this, we're out on the lake up north, full boat, bunch of kids, pretty windy but nice in the lee. All the kids are done surfin, and its time for the old man (yeah thats me) to show em all how its done. I get up out of the drivers seat, and turn around to get my jacket. All I hear is WHAM and then the sound of broken glass exploding. I'll give you one guess what my first thought was.

I turned around and saw my middle window shattered and glass all over the floor. Fortunately, no one was standing there when the wind picked it up and slammed it shut. Also it was cool cause nobody panicked or anything, but just looked at each other for a minute and started to either get out of the way or help to clean up.

Needless to say, the "old man" didn't get to show up all the kids and we headed back to the dock. After about an hour of vacuuming we got about 99% of the glass up.

In nearly 10 years of boating, I've never had or seen this happen. Is this common? The window was open, like is usually is, and the wind just picked it up and slammed it shut. If some kid was standing there, I hate to even think what could happen. Does anyone make something to keep the window from doing this?

The next question too is should the glass have shattered but stayed in the frame? I thought all that glass was safety glass, meant to shatter but stay in place. Is there a better solution with plexiglass or something out there????

[wannabewakeboarder]

I know I saw a 22Vé at the dealer last spring and it had a little clip that the middle window snapped into I guess to keep from rattling and that I assume.

[talltigeguy]

Mine has slammed shut but not broken. Just the slamming shut scared the sin out of me. Mine does not have any clip or anything to hold it in place. There is a yellow sticker that warns me that the glass could slam shut and cause injury.

So I more often than not try to keep it shut at all times.

GLad no one was hurt and the little ones weren't moving through just at that time.

[dingleberry]

our friend's SeaRay has a nylon strap attached to the main windshield frame which snaps to the swinging frame to hold it open. Works great - they leave it open as they banzai across the lake through rough water and wind. Wish ours had it - we only have the clip...doesn't seem very secure.

[ragboy]

My 24ve (2007) has a clip the window opens into, which holds it in place, which is VERY nice. But in my previous boat, this happened a couple of times, but it never was hard enough to break.

[sparky216]

I too have a clip....thank god no one was injured. Now I want to check if mine is secure.......wow......again thank god no one was injured!!

[chpthril]

Just glad to hear no one was hurt, that sux about the glass.

Does anyone make something to keep the window from doing this

Our old FourWinns was bad to slam shut if you turned into the wind. It had a snap-down cover so I made a nylon tether using 2 female snap grommets.

An auto glass shop should be able to install a piece of tempered.

[skyski_tige]

If you are interested, I have my old middle window for my 1997 2150i in the attic. The frame is not much good but it has the replacement glass that you are probably going to be looking for.

Let me know. I will sell it to you for cheap...

[TeamAllen]

jleger98,

Sorry to hear about your broken glass and missed run. This just happened to our boat a few weeks ago at Lake Mead. Except, like others, our glass didn't break. Your right, it was very scary! It slams hard!

It used to not be a problem since my mirror used to be installed on the center glass panel. We would need the glass closed to use the mirror every time. Since I moved the mirror onto the tower, I now leave the window open all day. I can probably just remove it. I never need it. I will look into a tether of some kind. I don't want any broken glass! For now we just try to remember and close it after each use.

[jwanck11]

Wow... that is scary!!!!

I have to get a clip!

[jleger98]

anyone know where to get a clip? I could make a strap I suppose, but a clip would be nicer

[TJRiver]

With the kind of weather we go out in on a regular basis, I am considering just pullling the center window out entirely. A pile of broken glass with a boat full of barefoot kids scares the $&)__^%$ out of me!

[dogbert]

Wow, that's bad. I'm glad nobody got hurt.

[laserfish]

We have had the window blow shut a couple of times in the past but it never broke. Sure sounded like it though. I can count on one hand the times we have had it shut while in the boat, mostly early and late season when it is a little cool. A small peice of nylon webbing with a snap on the end seems to be in order. Think I'll just do that this week and do what I preach to the kids...learn from others experiences so you won't have to have that negative experience yourself.

[skyski_tige]

Joel,
The window I am sending you has a nylon strap with a snap.