Has anyone replaced their glass salon sliding windows with polycarbonate (lexan) or safety glass. One pane was knocked out during demolition of the cabin and shattered in a very long spear type of shard. The danger to passengers in the cabin is too much risk for me. The boat is a late 50's 42' Roamer Riviera steel hull. It will be kept in the water year 'round as a liveabord in Milwaukee, WI Like others, the wooden window frames have rotted on one side. My plan is to rebuild the wood using the old as a pattern. Now the issue; the two options for repair (lexan or safety glass) have a somewhat rough edge. I would like to fabricate stainless steel frames for the windows and set them into a stainless slider track. Two nesting channels can be made pretty darn tight. Most of this metal will be hidden by the wooden trim and what does show should not seem out of place. Any thoughts or concerns other than dissimilar metals? Glass has a much nicer look over lexan. The lexan windows on my workboat have a "dead" look to them while glass has a crispness looking in or out.
I priced-out the same for all my windows in the upper and lower salon and with steel frame and tempered glass came up to $4-$6,000 about $200-#300 per frame. Very costly with square corners I plan to use tempered glass and install directly on the cabin openings with wooden casings and 3M in the channels. No sliders. One pop-out front in each salon. May be cheaper and tighter instead of a steel frame in each. O.
Fixed windows on older Roamers seems very common. Sliders leak unless the tolerences are very tight. Your solution of tempered glass and wood is somthing to explore. One caution - if you haul out your boat using a crane box and lifting straps take care not to induce stresses on the cabin structure. I have seen a few tempered windows shatter.
