Cleaning the windscreen

[Marco1]

I used to have a ski boat. Always looked over the edge of the windscreen so this was a non issue.
Now that I drive a much slower pocket cruiser, visibility is a real issue.
Most of the time I crusie the Hawkesbury and in dry weather all is fine. Providing I sit on a booster cushion since the seat is way too low that is. Nothing a longer post can not fix.

I ventured a bit further last time and into salt water and 2m swells. Was a lot of fun once I realised that the boat was not bothered by the unruly waves and so my intestine settled down.

One issue was the visibility though. The salt water or rather the salt in the water made the glass windscreen rather opaque and I had to use a spray bottle to wash it down over and over in order to see. On the way back and after several attempts at washing the salt off the glass, with the sun in the face i couldn't see a cow at three paces.

Fortunately no cows in the river and I got home safe, yet I still don't know how to clean my windscreen.
My windscreen wiper was a bit of a joke too. The blade does not touch the glass and makes a noise like a food processor full with brazilian nuts. So I am up for a new one.
But the glass is a mystery. A search on the internet provided some unsettling suggestions to polish the glass with car body polish and even steel wool. Must say that I feel a bit uncomfortable to follow such radical suggestions.
What do you do to take the salt out of your windscreen? Mind you mine is glass not perspex

[scottar]

Rainex. Get the original - not the spray bottle. I have used it on cars and boats for years now. On the boat I apply before each trip. With the car every time it gets a bath. I certainly would not be putting anything like steel wool near my glass. If the glass has been damaged by salt it can be professionally polished but it would depend how thick it is and how deep the damage goes. We have had windows done that have been damaged during sandblasting and the results were pretty good - but the glass is half an inch thick to start with.

[stevej]

rainex is awesome stuff
use it on my vintage cars and dont even need to use the wipers, which is a good thing as they are shite also used it on my motor racing helmets when karting and 140kph in pissing down rain no issues
they do a anti fog version for the inside as well

[wrxhoon]

Rainex is your friend, I have wipers that work on the boat but never use them, I find rainex works very well I don't even apply it every time.

[catshark]

sounds like rainex is popular, i use Nu finish on my cars windscreens all the time , something to make the water bead.. and the wipers glide on the film with ease.

[catshark]

with the steel wool , i believe it must be the the very fine type marked oooo and then the glass must be temped. otherwise scratchy scratchy

[Marco1]

Yes, water repellent product work well on car windscreen.
A boat in saltwater seems to bake on the salt onto the glass with the help of the sun, and it does not come off by washing it. I wonder if Rainex is something like Kwik Shine. it is the only product I found that mentions salt on the glass of boat windshields and the need for removing it.
Not much information only sentences like, "the product converts salt into polish" ...
Magic ?

[Fed]

I found you sort of get used to the reduced visibility after a while.

[ranmar850]

Try using CLR if the salt won't shift. I spent 9 days up in Exmouth last year, running around out in the gulf, always lots of spray. I have wipers, so no issues in seeing. And washed down religiously every day. But Exmouth water is calcium laden, and, when I got home, the glass windscreen had a crust where the wipers hadn't kept it off. CLR clear did the job, screen clean again. A local tip from up there was to wash down with dishwashing liquid and vinegar in the water, dried down clear and streak-free. I have since used this, really good at getting the salt off.
I spent many years runnig a commercial fishing boat, we used Rainex a lot. It only really works on glass--you can freshen it up after a while with a detergent wash. There is now a Rainex for perspex available.

[gazza2006au]

Marco its just a bad combination as the sun sets in the west and you'll likely be coming back into the hawkesbury and going up river you'll have the sun shining on your windscreen plus the salt u wont see shit all, i fish the hawkesbury a lot and know the feeling

[Marco1]

Sun in the face ... yes. But it is such a nice ride

CLR is Oxalic acid. same stuff that is in hull cleaner. And I have a bottle of hull cleaner sitting there. Thanks!

[inveratta]

Sun in the face ... yes. But it is such a nice ride

CLR is Oxalic acid. same stuff that is in hull cleaner. And I have a bottle of hull cleaner sitting there. Thanks!

if you have a galvanised trailer......just be sure and check whether there is any effect on the gal.if you wash on trailer

[Marco1]

Boat is permanently in the water, And yes, I have used hull cleaner with oxalic acid to clean another boat standing on the trailer and seen no problems with that. Sure, plenty of fresh water required to wash off hull and trailer.
For the case of salt on windscreen, I think a good wipe with hull cleaner will be the easy solution and no ill effect on the boat cabin.

[gazza2006au]

Marco u mentioned u ventured a little further into the salt how far are we talking? and where are u coming from the Neapean? i fish around the motorway bridge have never gone any further up stream by boat and i fish to just outside i have never seen 2 meter chop however coming around the rail bridge i have entered probably 1.2m 1.3m chop in a southerly storm around the west side of the Dangar Island hard to believe it would reach 2 meters unless your talking about outside the only stretch i can see being a problem is in a southerly storm going to or from the rail way bridge to Juno Point the rest of the hawkesbury is westerly up stream so the southerly will be coming across from side to side which doesn't make it anywhere near 2 meter chop

fishing anywhere in Sydney we are at the mercy of the weather in any Southerly's a lot of guys see a Southerly on the new's and don't even bother to head out

i have been out once on the Hawkesbury River in a Southerly storm and turned around for the above mentioned chop the Hawkesbury River us usually so calm i often sleep out there on the boat while my mates fish thru the night

if your going out fishing in the cruizer try fishing between bridge to bridge plenty to catch massive flat heads and the elusive jewfish you can even get hair tail once a blue moon at the railway bridge

[Marco1]

2m swells encountered between Flint and Steel point and Barrenjoey Head.
Sure the Hawkesbury is sheltered.

I must confess that I enjoy boating but don't care much for fishing