Ah, good point about the "big hole" problem. My installation is on the
dodger and wouldn't compromise the interior if it broke. Many good
opening ports use glass - albeit in small sizes. However, I think the
area of most auto glass would be too large for the glass thickness to
withstand much bashing with waves, especially if it were flat.

Rufus

Lew Hodgett wrote:

"Ron Thornton" writes:

snip

Any reason why I wouldn't want to use auto glass in a boat?

snip

Possibly might be a problem.

Most auto safety glass will shatter into small pieces when hit, leaving a
major hole if used on a boat.

OTOH, laminated safety glass, while abandoned years ago for automobiles,
would simply crack when hit.

Might be some sharp shards of glass on the deck, but no major hole for water
to enter.

Talk to somebody in the glass business.

HTH

Probably got my terminology wrong. I think that all safety glass is
tempered, but the names are different ...if you describe what you want,
you'll get it. Diamond-Seaglaze knows ...

Brian


"Dan, danl, danny boy, Redbeard, actually Greybeard now"
wrote in message
...
On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:12:31 GMT, "Brian D"
sent into the ether:

Tempered safety glass. It breaks in long cracks instead of a zillion
little
pieces. This is OK because the windshield is made from two layers of
glass,
with a layer of mylar in between to hold the mess together when it
breaks.
Side and rear windows are 'safety glass', which is the stuff that breaks
into a zillion little pieces, but have relatively rounded corners in the
breaks so that they are not as sharp.

Brian
Brian,
When did they change tempered glass? Tempered glass breaks into rock
salt sized piece and laminated glass, as used in windshields, breaks
as you decribe. Easy to mix up the two :} BTW, both are referred to
as safety glass.

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