If you have a broken boat windshield, a cracked RV side window, or an excavator cab pane on the lakeshore, most auto glass shops will tell you no. We are in Holland, on 58th St, and these are jobs we take: boat and marine glass, RV and motorhome windshields and side windows, heavy equipment cab glass, semi truck glass, and antique and classic vehicles. Bring us the boat, the machine, or just the old glass, and we will tell you straight whether we can do it.
That last sentence is the whole point of this post. The hard part of specialty glass is not the work. It is finding somebody who will look at it.
Why most shops say no
Nothing mysterious. A high volume auto glass operation is built around a catalog. A part number goes in, a windshield comes out of the rack, and the job takes a predictable amount of time.
A boat from 1998 whose builder went under in 2004 does not have a part number that works like that. Neither does an excavator with a cracked side pane, or a motorhome that was assembled by a company that no longer exists.
Those jobs do not fit the model, so the model turns them away. There is nothing wrong with that model. It just leaves a whole category of people with nowhere to go.
Boat and marine glass
Boats outlive their builders, routinely. That is normal in this industry and it is why marine glass has a reputation for being impossible.
We work on boat windshields and side glass, including the sections other shops turn away.
A few things that help, if you are calling about a boat:
- A photo of the damage, and a photo of the whole windshield. The second one is more useful than people expect.
- The make, model, and year if you have them. If the boat is old enough that you do not, that is fine and it is common.
- Bring the old glass if it is already out, or bring the boat if that is easier. Either works.
Timing matters here in a way it does not for a car. The season on this side of the state is short. A boat that goes into winter storage with a broken windshield tends to be remembered in May, which is the week everybody else remembers theirs too. The quiet months are the good months for this.
RV and motorhome glass
Two different jobs that get lumped together.
RV windshields are large, often in two pieces, and heavier than a car windshield in every sense. They are their own kind of work.
RV side windows are the one people are surprised we do. Rebuilding a motorhome side window is a job most shops will not quote at all, and it is on our list.
If you are calling about an RV, tell us which of the two you have. It changes the answer.
Heavy equipment
Excavators, loaders, tractors, and skid steers. A cracked cab pane on a working machine is not a cosmetic problem, it is a machine that should not be running, and the clock is on the whole time it sits.
We do cab glass for equipment. Bring the machine or bring the glass.
For a contractor, the honest framing is downtime. A day a machine is parked costs more than the glass does, so the answer worth having is when, not whether. Call and ask.
Semi truck glass
Same logic, different scale. An over the road truck with a cracked windshield is revenue sitting still.
We do windshields and cab glass for semis. More on that here.
Antique and classic
Older and collector vehicles, including glass in sizes that are no longer made.
When a part number comes back dead, that is where most shops stop. It is not where we stop. What we will tell you is whether we can do your specific one, which is a more useful answer than a maybe.
What we will not do
Tell you yes before we know.
Specialty glass attracts a certain amount of optimistic quoting, and a shop that says yes to everything on the phone is a shop that is going to call you back in three weeks with bad news. We would rather look at it and give you a real answer, including a no when it is a no.
That is what a customer meant in the review we get quoted back to us most often, about other shops telling her it could not be done.
How to get an answer
Three things get you a real answer fastest:
- A photo of the damage.
- A photo of the whole piece of glass, in place if it is still in.
- What it is on, in whatever detail you have. A make and year is great. "A pontoon from the nineties" is a real starting point too.
Send those with the quote form or call the shop at 616-396-3487. We are at 4270 58th St in Holland, open Monday through Friday, 8 to 5.
If you are further out, we cover Holland, Zeeland, Hamilton, Saugatuck, Douglas, Hudsonville, Allegan, West Olive, Fennville, and Grand Haven. Service area.
More on the specialty work: specialty glass and boat and marine glass.