Eisenglass restoration?

The boat has a lot of eisenglass on the fly bridge. The side piece are ok, the front is not very clear.
I have tried the 3m Plastic polish, the starbrite clear plastic polish and even Flitz polish. By hand, and even with a orbital buffer. While it made a very small improvement, it’s just not good enough to motor with it up. The last boat had just the cheaper clear roll up vinyl and the polishing removed all scratches and the yellow haze. It looked new with just a few hours of polishing. I had planned on all new canvas, but it’s not in the budget for this year and probably not for next. Does anyone have any other suggestions? What happens if you hit it with some heat? I know some plastics will re gloss wile others will just go hazy and melt.
I could just sew in the front 3 pieces into the existing canvas. But at 150 or so a window it seams like a waste of $$ just to be replaced in two years. More than likely I will pull the top glass in the summer months and leave it at home. But this winter, it’s nice to keep out of the wind/rain in the PNW.

Try something made for headlight restoration: Plastex, 3M kit with 2000grit wet/dry and a polish, others. Browse your auto parts store for other ideas.

Before you do anything extreme try some Sumner 210. On our boat the eisenglass was very cloudy and we had a 1400 mile trip home. I did the Flitz and some other product without any improvement. We were in Cape May and had a couple of panels blow out the stitching. I found a canvas guy that restitched them for us. We were talking about my project to manufacture new enclosures for the bridge and sundeck. He said use 210 for the trip home. My question was what is 210. He gave me a can and I used it on all the flybridge enclosure inside and out in about 1.5 hours. It was amazing. It made the eisenglass not like new but it cleared it up so that it was very acceptable. And it is very easy to use. Spray on after washing and drying the eisenglass, then use a diaper to wipe it around. Then a clean diaper to polish it completely off and you are done. I use it on my new enclosures now once or twice a year depending on how much I use the boat. I can do both enclosures in about 2.5 hours inside and outside. I get it on Amazon now.

I used the Sumner 210 on my eisenglass a few months ago after someone mentioned it here on the forum and it worked wonders. 14 oz aerosol for $15.99 on Amazon.

Leatherneck said:

I used the Sumner 210 on my eisenglass a few months ago after someone mentioned it here on the forum and it worked wonders. 14 oz aerosol for $15.99 on Amazon.

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I have posted about it several times. Unfortunately I don’t have any financial interest in them because it is a great product.

Greetings,
Mr. C. "...then use a diaper to wipe it around." As in an oil absorbent type "diaper" usually used under machinery? Never thought of that. Thanks.

I think he means a regular cloth diaper, but maybe not.


I tried the 210, it worked pretty well, at least as well as Plexus, but it wasn't a miracle cure for me. Unfortunately, once it starts going I haven't had great luck getting Strataglass to come back.



We had our forward panel, the one right in front of the helm, split this summer in a thunderstorm so we had it replaced. The canvas guy who did the work does not recommend Strataglass or Isenglass, as they are so expensive and so delicate. He suggested a brand called "Crystal Clear which does not have a coating and is about 40% less expensive. Since I was just doing the one panel, I decided to give it a try, thinking that the risk would be much less than using it for an entire enclosure. So far, so good. Only problem is that it is so much clearer than the 4 1/2 year old panels on each side that it makes them look even worse.

I meant a regular baby diaper since they are so soft. We keep some that all we use them for is cleaning the eisenglass and EZ2CY panels.

Thank you for the 210 tip. I just ordered up a can and will post up results !

Klear to Sea ,worked great for us.

RonR said:

Thank you for the 210 tip. I just ordered up a can and will post up results !

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I'll second that. I've got some side curtains to polish up this year. Just ordered a can of 210, so I figure I'll see if I can polish them up a bit better, then hit them with the 210 and see how they come out.

Does 210 work on "hard" polycarbonate like EZ2CY?

Once you get your new enclosure, in the future, to avoid scratching your eisenglass, don't "roll it up". Instead, keep it flat and hold it to the inside of your canvass with a barrel snap. Rolling the eisenglass really scratches the heck out of it. Since I started doing this, my eisenglass has remained in much, much better condition.
Just a tip.....
Taras

bnoft said:

Does 210 work on "hard" polycarbonate like EZ2CY?

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I use it on mine all the time. Keeps it clean and helps protect it.

bnoft said:

Does 210 work on "hard" polycarbonate like EZ2CY?

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The 210 did a nice job of cleaning, and put a light polish on my stuff. But it did not remove the pitting or scratches. Its still cloudy, and I will be replacing it.

Taras said:

Once you get your new enclosure, in the future, to avoid scratching your eisenglass, don't "roll it up". Instead, keep it flat and hold it to the inside of your canvass with a barrel snap. Rolling the eisenglass really scratches the heck out of it. Since I started doing this, my eisenglass has remained in much, much better condition.
Just a tip.....
Taras

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We're taking advantage of the winter and having (the front half of) our bridge enclosure redone. We're doing exactly this for the front panels, but unfortunately the enclosure frame runs right in front of the side panels, so we'll have to continue to roll those two. We'll redo the rear half next year, and those will be swing up too.
BD

Any labels on the plastic saying what it actually is? Strataglass, O'Sea, Regalite etc. They each have their own stuff they want you to use, and on new material even void the warranty if you use anything else. Strataglass recommends IMAR products only, I'm sure that would work as well on any brand of sheet vinyl material. There's really no such thing as eisenglass or isinglass anymore, that's technically a 19th century product made from fish guts.

RonR said:

The 210 did a nice job of cleaning, and put a light polish on my stuff. But it did not remove the pitting or scratches. Its still cloudy, and I will be replacing it.

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Of course it will not remove scratches. The only way to remove scratches is to basically sand the scratches out. Then work your way up progressively finer sanding until you get to a polish. By that time you will have removed any protective coating on the eisenglass. If they are that far gone it is too late to fix it with any product that I have tried. If they are fine scratches then Plexus might work.

I just replaced all the vinyl windows in my enclosure. The original Strataglass was a only little cloudy but a couple panels had big cracks in them. No idea how old it is but the canvas parts are still in good shape. I have an industrial sewing machine and have done canvas work in the past so not a big deal for me. I used 40 mil O'Sea from Sailrite, it's a little cheaper and gets better reviews than Strataglass. Any decent canvas shop can replace your windows if you can't get them clear enough. Not cheap but way less than replacing the whole enclosure canvas and all, which I've seen guys do for cloudy windows.

What kind of sewing machine do you have?

Here is a "last ditch" effort to try before you replace.

Get the isinglass Very clean. VERY!
Saturate a soft cloth with acetone,
ONE quick swipe. (up to down or left to right, doesn't matter, but only ONE swipe!)

(Will also work on foggy headlights on your car.)

It may ruin the Isinglass so try it on a small area. It will not be prefect but it will be a lot better.

pete

STroutman said:

What kind of sewing machine do you have?

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Sailrite LSZ1, the blue one. Walking foot with zig zag. You don't normally use zig zag for canvas, I got that to do sails. Walking foot helps a lot with vinyl windows, the material tends to stick to the table or foot, whichever side is up. The walking foot pulls the material through the machine from top and bottom together so much less sticking. Helps with several layers of canvas stacked also. You can do it with a regular machine, but it's a lot harder.

Pete Meisinger said:

Here is a "last ditch" effort to try before you replace.

Get the isinglass Very clean. VERY!
Saturate a soft cloth with acetone,
ONE quick swipe. (up to down or left to right, doesn't matter, but only ONE swipe!)

(Will also work on foggy headlights on your car.)

It may ruin the Isinglass so try it on a small area. It will not be prefect but it will be a lot better.

pete

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Interesting. Do you follow it with a polish afterward?

Thanks for the info on the blue sewing machine. I have a regular machine just trying to figure out if I want to get heavy duty one.

jgwinks said:

Sailrite LSZ1, the blue one. Walking foot with zig zag. You don't normally use zig zag for canvas, I got that to do sails. Walking foot helps a lot with vinyl windows, the material tends to stick to the table or foot, whichever side is up. The walking foot pulls the material through the machine from top and bottom together so much less sticking. Helps with several layers of canvas stacked also. You can do it with a regular machine, but it's a lot harder.

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Jim
One trick I've learned is to cut a piece of the separating material most window material comes with to place under the window while stitching. It helps it slide smoothly and also avoids chance of scratching.

I have a Sailrite 111 machine. They don’t sell it anymore. It has the upgraded motor and it will walk through 8 layers of Sunbrella one stitch at a time if I want ti to. If you get an industrial machine make sure to get the upgraded motor it makes a huge difference. .

Comodave said:

I have a Sailrite 111 machine. They don’t sell it anymore. It has the upgraded motor and it will walk through 8 layers of Sunbrella one stitch at a time if I want ti to. If you get an industrial machine make sure to get the upgraded motor it makes a huge difference. .

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The LS & LZ machines will do the same with the optional but common " monster wheel" upgrade.

We all used to use Lemon Pledge on floatplane windows. The can was the perfect size to put behind the cushioning on the seat back for a lumbar improvement. Every Beaver on the coast has had its windows saturated with Pledge.

Bit of drift there, but you can put it on a wet window and although everybody freaks now, we had rolls of paper towel. Regular Pledge doesn't work as well for some reason (lemon oil?) and it doesn't smell as good.

Try it somewhere and see if it works on Eisenglass. It certainly works on Plexi.

STroutman said:

Thanks for the info on the blue sewing machine. I have a regular machine just trying to figure out if I want to get heavy duty one.

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Give the one you have a try. It might do it. A regular dress making machine not have the strength to go through heavy canvas, might bend things out burn out the motor. I started out with Mom's old 1950's Singer, it did pretty well but eventually the motor went. If your current machine seems to struggle, don't push it, just get a heavier duty one. No sense in killing a perfectly good machine.

Xsbank said:

We all used to use Lemon Pledge on floatplane windows. The can was the perfect size to put behind the cushioning on the seat back for a lumbar improvement. Every Beaver on the coast has had its windows saturated with Pledge.

Bit of drift there, but you can put it on a wet window and although everybody freaks now, we had rolls of paper towel. Regular Pledge doesn't work as well for some reason (lemon oil?) and it doesn't smell as good.

Try it somewhere and see if it works on Eisenglass. It certainly works on Plexi.

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I think the vinyl makers say not to do that. Supposedly hastens the clouding. Acrylic and vinyl are completely different materials. Vinyl is more susceptible to chemicals, I've seen bug spray and sunscreen do a number it.