My 84 4winns horizon 195 project.

they make vinyl with 6mm foam already glued on. a whole lot easier than dealing with an entire roll of 6mm thick foam

the plastic trim for the taylor made windshields is not that expensive. I went with RV screw trim (similar, however available in white)

Sounds great. I am doing a few upgrades to my old boat, most will be done in the spring, I am going to take it back to the 'glass shop that painted it in Imron 13 years ago and have them replace the stripes and replace all the old FW Logos with reproduction ones plus the name we never put on it. Next is a new fishfinder GPS Garmin unit to replace the 11 year old one that cuts out randomly lol. After that a new sound system, I want one with the bare minium of buttons etc for ease of use underway. And if I get motivated I will replace the sloppy old OMC remote control with the Seastar unit I bought years ago and never installed (lazy me). Also did another oil analysis and all is still good with the old 4.3, and did a compression test (all between 160-170) and scoped the inside of the manifold/elbow joint (still good).

Scott Danforth said:

they make vinyl with 6mm foam already glued on. a whole lot easier than dealing with an entire roll of 6mm thick foam

the plastic trim for the taylor made windshields is not that expensive. I went with RV screw trim (similar, however available in white)

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Taylor allegedly claims my trim is NLA is the problem. I took pictures a while ago and reached out and that was their response. I am hoping to take some measurements and find something close enough so I don't have to care as much... The other issue is the black spacers that hold the glass in the frame have deteriorated too. They shrank maybe 2 inches all around and the glass itself sits looser than I'd like within the frame so that needs to be addressed too. Being there have to be nearly millions of that exact panel out there, I think the lady I was speaking to just didn't want to deal with it that day.

Good point on the backed vinyl, hadn't thought of using that. Hopefully I can find something that is close enough in color to everything else.

Lou C said:

Sounds great. I am doing a few upgrades to my old boat, most will be done in the spring, I am going to take it back to the 'glass shop that painted it in Imron 13 years ago and have them replace the stripes and replace all the old FW Logos with reproduction ones plus the name we never put on it. Next is a new fishfinder GPS Garmin unit to replace the 11 year old one that cuts out randomly lol. After that a new sound system, I want one with the bare minium of buttons etc for ease of use underway. And if I get motivated I will replace the sloppy old OMC remote control with the Seastar unit I bought years ago and never installed (lazy me). Also did another oil analysis and all is still good with the old 4.3, and did a compression test (all between 160-170) and scoped the inside of the manifold/elbow joint (still good).
View attachment 404185

View attachment 404186

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Funny enough, your windshield is nearly identical to mine. Same divider on back and all. I am pretty comfortable saying the reason mine leaks is because, unlike yours, the cockpit cover snaps are affixed to the top of the glass. So thinking years of trailering with basically a parachute and just general use worked it loose. (it is a little loose now on the sides.) I know it wasn't that bad last year but all the vibrations from grinding probably didn't help either....

I didn't pull my oil since I did it so late in the season, next spring after the first couple runs I'll change it. Should have ~70 hours on it. Curious if the 4.3 will still be shearing it down and how the wear numbers are.

I don't want to start an oil debate, but look at how the Mercruiser syn blend 25/50 held up in my engine. I have used it for the '23 and '24 seasons so far, before that I used the regular Merc 25/40 conventional oil. And before that (like before 2015) I used Delo 400 40 wt.
It also has more phosphorous and zinc than most oils.
About the cockpit cover yes when my canvas guy made it, he suggested going down to below the windshield frame. That cover is now 21 years old!

Lou C said:

I don't want to start an oil debate, but look at how the Mercruiser syn blend 25/50 held up in my engine. I have used it for the '23 and '24 seasons so far, before that I used the regular Merc 25/40 conventional oil. And before that (like before 2015) I used Delo 400 40 wt.
It also has more phosphorous and zinc than most oils.
About the cockpit cover yes when my canvas guy made it, he suggested going down to below the windshield frame. That cover is now 21 years old!

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Mine is as well lol. Done in 2003 and still looks new. Mine also suggested it to dad but the snaps were already there.

One thing I thought about... I have no capacity plate on the boat. Never had one as long as we had it. I'm going to have to reach out to get the exact specs and see if I can get one made.

I wonder when they started using those capacity plates. My '88 definitely has one.

Lou C said:

I wonder when they started using those capacity plates. My '88 definitely has one.

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Around the same time as the standardized HIN best of my knowledge

Been a while. I've been crawling in and out of the cover the last couple weeks taking some measurements. It seems for every single day we get with a reasonable outdoor work temp (35 degrees or so) we get like 5 more where it's teens. Ironically they also only occur when I'm working.

Anyway. Today I'm going to final measure the cabin and template the berth. Been measuring for some other goodies but I just want the supplies here so when it is nice enough to work, I can just do it. I could use the garage at my aunt's again but it isn't so much work to the point I want to deal with pulling it off the trailer to get it in there again.

Then I want to fix the small scrapes on the bottom and repaint.

I also have a question. When the transom rotted out, the rollers caused 2 small indents at the transom. I worked them out best I could but I didn't go that crazy. I was thinking grind them up a little on the outside and just do a skin of either thickened epoxy or maybe a structural filler. They are maybe 2 inch round and less than quarter inch deep at the center. By bulking up the transom wood and building up the area inside the hull so it is supported fully on the transom... the roller now sits square on the transom wood and centered on the stringer... I don't believe it'll get worse. I would say it only happened due to the rot.

Or option B is I just leave it since it's causing seemingly no harm...

My basement looks like an upholstery shop at the moment.

I've got my machine dialed in on a few test passes. The polyester thread feeds nicely compared to the nylon. It's definitely the thickest I'd go on a home machine though.

I'm also contemplating plywood... I have half and 3/4 for the bottom panels of the birth. Seems half inch is more than plenty and 3/4 would be overkill.

"Bottom panels of birth", so wall pieces? If so, 1/2 would be fine unless you plan to hang stuff from them. If you plan to have something like a grab bar, I would bump it up to the 3/4.

The indents on the bottom I would leave alone unless it looks damaged.

About the windshiled trim, Scott knows more than me, but the lady on the phone wasn't just giving you a hard time. Manufacturers order parts in bulk, and once they run out that's pretty much the end of that style. It's not like a car where you can still find trim for 40 year old vehicles. If you gave her your year and model, she genuinely didn't have any. You might be able to find some rubber trim, or something. Again, Scott knows way more than me about that.

MikeSchinlaub said:

"Bottom panels of birth", so wall pieces? If so, 1/2 would be fine unless you plan to hang stuff from them. If you plan to have something like a grab bar, I would bump it up to the 3/4.

The indents on the bottom I would leave alone unless it looks damaged.

About the windshiled trim, Scott knows more than me, but the lady on the phone wasn't just giving you a hard time. Manufacturers order parts in bulk, and once they run out that's pretty much the end of that style. It's not like a car where you can still find trim for 40 year old vehicles. If you gave her your year and model, she genuinely didn't have any. You might be able to find some rubber trim, or something. Again, Scott knows way more than me about that.

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The bottom that my butt would be on laying in the birth. What the cushion would be attached to.

As far as everything else, yea. The trim I found some leads. It's a pretty standard taylor frame that would be found on most anything from the mid 70s to the 90s. So I'll continue digging.

And yes, No damage.

Depends on how much support the plywood will have, but I would probably use the 3/4 with some good waterproofing.

Did some cutting. The OE wood was half so I just replaced what was there. I'll probably spar varnish the underside for good measure too. I'll start taking care of the cushions after work at night so I can check something off the list.

They're not affixed to the backers yet, but they're respectable for a guy who has no idea what he's doing. (Yes I know the corners are a little wacky.)

Again... not my finest work, but not too bad either.

"Finest work" isn't the important part. Is it comfortable? If so, then it's perfect.

So I got brave today and pulled the Starboard side windshield track cover. No breakage but uh... I've never seen one like this. Not saying it may not have been uncommon back in the day but I showed dad as this is the vintage he cut his teeth on and he said the same thing... it usually popped in like a rub rail, not a clip in like this one and he'd never seen one. I attached photos and dimensions. Looks like the track would accept a 5/8 push in. I may order a sample if I break anything while disassembling. At a minimum I need the glazing. Hopefully not the track covers too.


I'm going to search the usual catalogs. But does this ring a bell to anyone?

May have found a glazing that'll work. Ordered a foot section to try. Dimensions look close enough.

Also I broke the H channel that joins the two pieces of glass together. Sounds simple enough. Found a windshield and part number that uses it and Taylor had no idea what I was talking about and kept going back to the glazing... this is just a piece of h channel in thin black plastic they use to join to sections of glass together. If anyone has a source let me know. I found one that'll work but it's made from styrene so idk how it'll hold up.

Photo of glazing...


Broken H channel: