Wind away
 

has anyone ever bought this deflector and how do you like or dis like them just trying to get the wife out of the wind alittle and if you have them and dont like them would you sel them to me so i can aleast make an "atempt" to please her thanks



adam

Re: Wind away
 

I have them on a Checkmate Convicor. They are awesome. I will not drive without them anymore. They help out alot.

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I thought it was a way to get rid of blow boats

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I wish it was that easy. :D :D

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the saying down here on the chesapeake is:


save the bay..........


sink a sailboat :evilb:

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Where do you find one

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Pure overpriced junk.

They are made like crap and fall apart.
I replaced them with ones from www.finneys.com and never looked back.

Re: Wind away
 

Thanks ZT,cool site!

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Do your "new" ones clamp to the windshield frame???


Doug

Re: Wind away
 

I have finney's and never a problem. Work great and look great. They can custom fit whatever measuremants you give them and can add a lip at the top which diverts wind up and over and looks great also.

Re: Wind away
 

No they don't. I custom mounted the grab bar to the top of my windshield, with allen bolts from the inside of the track. A lot of work, but it looks and works great even at 100+ mph. And when I fold them down the boat cover still fits without removal.

Re: Wind away
 

I have had no problems with Wind-Away. I have found mine to be effective, durable, and well made. I have done nothing to them other than take 'em on and off for two full seasons, and I run them all the time.

I got my $ worth out of them the first weekend I ran them.

They aren't that expensive...peanuts really in the whole scheme of things.

Just because they didn't work for you, or your application is no grounds to label a product "pure overpriced junk" :rolleyes:

You are the first one I ever heard trash wind-away.

Re: Wind away
 

see the thing im looking at is the finneys need a lot of rigging on my own and the wind away just clamp on so i think i will try and find used ones for now or maybe just buy new ones

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wind aways work very well, but not the highest quality.

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hat and sunglasses, or just take your girlfriend until she starts to complain then trade her in :eek:

Re: Wind away
 

im tring to trade mine now! nobody will take in trade!!!

cant toss her overboard, scott Peterson proved that doesnt work :o

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I've used Wind Away for three years. They work fine for me. The only detractor is that the rubber pads will eventutally come loose and need reglued to the clamps. Mine were lost and I bought a piece of rubber at a gasket company and cut new ones and attached with 5200. Also, my windshield frame is square and the clamps work great there. Personally, when mine get too scratched, I'll probably have a local plastics shop cut me a new pair just slightly larger and retrofit to the clamps. The bags are worth getting but I seldom use mine anymore. We just disconnect and lay on dash behind windshield. If you have round tube at top windshield, I don't believe wind away will clamp on. The finney's look a little more custom but I'm not sure how they would attach to a square frame. They look very good and like they would last a long time.

Is Wind Away Junk ? Not in my opinion at all.

Re: Wind away
 

Are you just looking for something that clamps on to your wind screen? I can't imagine that to be very durable.

There's really not that much to installing the finneys mounting bar. Just drill two holes and run the supplied bolts through from the underside and tighten down, then the screen is adjustable on the bar. I slide mine up and down all the time.

Re: Wind away
 

Let just say our standards must be different.

For $120 a pair I expect it to work out of the box. The clamping mechanism is plastic and I had to modify it just to clamp on tight. Then there are the pads, that fall off after a few uses. Finally since you have to remove them to cover the boat they get scratched up real quick even if you’re careful. (The plexiglas they use is very soft). Oh and if you ever run over 70mph wait till they let go and try to take your head off.

No thanks. Hence the term "pure overpriced junk" I should have added dangerous.

If the plexiglas was decent quality and the mount was billet, I would give it a fair rating. They still don’t look that great. That's why after a lot of testing I custom mounted the Finneys. I've never seen anyone else mount them this way. They work awesome.

Re: Wind away
 

Wish they made something for the old Top Guns like the new ones have !

Re: Wind away
 

no i want somthing to clamp to the frame of the windshield i think there was also a company called wind foiler anyone ever here of this company

Re: Wind away
 

check these out windfoiler.com

Re: Wind away
 

I used Wind-Aways on my former 22 Velocity and they were great - after I made a couple modifications. I reinforced the mounting attachment to the plexiglass with some stainless washers and hardware. I also used a stronger glue to attach the rubber inserts on the clamping surface. The biggest improvement was to have a local plastics shop slightly reshape them so they looked better matching the slight curve of the windshield, and they also bent a "lip" into the trailing edge to add additional wind deflection. They never budged at 80 mph and they really spoiled me and my wife. I never drove the boat without them.

I don't need them on my Velocity VR1 so I'd sell them. Each comes in its own storage case.

Re: Wind away
 

how much do you want for them

Re: Wind away
 

zt260, I can tell from your comments that our standards are probably different. I can also say honestly that the wind aways did fine for me. My boat will do 70 and more and they've never been a problem for me. I sure didn't mean to insult your intelligence ! I just stated my honest experience. If yours is different, that's great. Like I said, I also like the finney design. It's very nice. Also, when I purchased my wind aways, the Finney product wasn't around that I was aware of anyway. And, not everyone goes over 70 mph all the time ! So, they work for some people and not for others. Just like most everything else in this world.

Re: Wind away
 

I didn't take it as an insult. I just wanted people to know it's not the perfect solution. I bought mine on the recommendations of others and was disappointed. I don't want that to happen to anyone else.

If you can handle the look of them and your boat isn't too fast, you could get away with it, but they will scratch up and the mounts will annoy you in time.

After using the windaway, I knew I needed a permanent adjustable solution that would work at high speed. If anyone wants more specifics on how to mount the bar, I'd be happy to share.

Re: Wind away
 

Yes, I would....I currently have windaways on my boat and am looking for other options...

Don'y get me wrong, they're O.K. but the little pads keep comming off and the hardware has to re-tightened all the time but other than that they work....they've only hit me in the face twice at 75+mph :eek:


Doug

Re: Wind away
 

What mate do you have? I’d assume the windshield is similar to mine. You need to buy some stainless allen head bolts to do this right.

There are two main things to do.
Once you have decided a location, you must modify the angle on the grab bars. Luckily the bolts in the grab bar are only welded on one side. Just bend the bolt in a bit and grind the end of bar to fit your windshield. Be careful to cool the bar to avoid discoloring.

Second is the drilling the windshield frame. You obviously must remove the top of the windshield. Then dill holes up through the frame (use the picture for reference) My windshield has a fold in the front side of the channel that slightly blocks the area you want the bolt head to rest. I used a dremel to remove the extra material. It will leave a hole to the outside of your frame but if you’re careful the stainless allen bolts will fill the void. Use locktight and mount the bars, reassemble the windshield and clamp on the defectors. It took me about 2 hours start to finish.

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You had what, what , what, what , and what done to them?? :D

After all that, was it worth it? :rolleyes:

Re: Wind away
 

hmmm...

I superglued the pads on, other than that they are out of the box. I had one come off once...before I learned to tighten the thumb screws down more, especially after the rubber faces on the clamps warm up in the sun...DUH!!

160 hours. Taylor windshield on my 353 with radiused (rounded) top frame (not square).

They are not scratched to he!! because I'm smart enough not to scrub plexiglass!
Or use windex often, as the ammonia breaks down plastic!!!

When they are plasterd with dried bugs...they get a soak in warm water...or most often a dip in the river and cleaned off pretty easily with a dripping wet chamois. The Absorber synth. chamois doesn't scratch...and river water is soft water and breaks down the bugs quick...makes cleaning easy!

Am I just one of the "lucky ones", or do I just know how to install and care for sh!t ???? :rolleyes:

I guess I need to drill holes and install some gaudy 80's style handrails on the top (or worse looking yet) back of my top w/s frame...

and get some real wind deflectors. :eureka:

Re: Wind away
 

finney's......me too!
ive had good luck, dont have a windshield though, just the stainless bar and deflector. the drivers side does seem to lower itself over 70mph. But checking the mounting hardware and tightening when needed does just fine.
never used the windaway ones so no comment from me... :D

Re: Wind away
 

My bad, I have been accused of failing to care for my sh!t. Take a look at my crappy engine compartment. I'd love to see what a clean compartment looks like.

It's also too bad Fountain, Cigarette, and Skater still use these gaudy 80's style grab bars on many new hulls. Call the fashion police...

Re: Wind away
 

So Kevin, you only have to worry about them after towing then?? :D :evilb: :evilb:

I'm looking for something I can just fold down when I put my cover on...Do the Finney's units have to be loosened to move them??

ZT260...My boat is a '93 230 Enforcer


Doug

Re: Wind away
 

I leave mine tight enough to stay up at speed, and still loose enough to move them down for covering. This was the main reason for installing the finneys.

If your windshield is not curved it will be even easier for you.

Re: Wind away
 

yeah, me too ZT!!
BI, about the towing thing.......well you know what you can do!!! :mad: :drink:
it does run over 70 regularly, just no knocking on the 80 door yet....soon enough though!! and i can fold mine down and everything fits undercover.(for towing too!!)

Re: Wind away
 

Huh ?.......Where are these ?

Re: Wind away
 

I'll take $50 plus whatever it costs to ship them. PM me if you're interested.

Harper220 - yes it was some work to get them the way I wanted, but it was worth the trouble because I didn't want to permanently modify my windshield. I also wanted something removable to permit the cockpit cover to fit. Small price for big improvement in comfort.