Rpod 2020 192 windshield

I was driving yesterday and the front windshield shattered.

Has anyone heard of this happening?

Can I order a replacement from a local glass company or do I need to order from forest tiver?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Tom

Any idea if I can replace this with a black flat piece of plexiglass?

If the window shattered into small fragments it means it was tempered glass. Tempered glass will always break that way because it is under tension from the glass factory.Thats what makes it strong but it also makes it prone to breakage from small rock chips. It's quite common for tempered glass to get hit by rocks and not break until later when the crack from the chip has had time to progress and realease the tension

Polycarbonate (Lexan) would be a good choice as an alternative material. If is next to impossible to break polycarbonate, you can only scratch it. OTOG it does scratch much easier that glass. You would have to fit it in the frame which might be difficult, it could be that polycarbonate the same thickness as the glass was will be too thin and flexible. The other approach would be to protect the glass with something during travel. Anything that will keep rock chips away would work. It might be interesting to glue strong magnets to the inside of the window and hold a cover on that way.

Mechanical hold downs require more holes in the trailer, and in an area subject to driving rain/wind.

If the front glazing is single pane modern rare earth magnets will hold through it well. They are incredibly strong, likely you will have more trouble removing the protective sheet then keeping it on.

Magnetic force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance so if it's an insulated glass panel then the attractive force will probably be too weak for magnets to work.

In that case or if you don't the idea of using magnets consider adhering attachment points to the glass using epoxy.

Also, the protective sheet doesn't need to be rigid. It's purpose is to protect the glass from rock chips, not breaking impacts. So some type of flexible padding could work and that wouldn't be as prone to being blown off as a rigid glass sheet. It could also be folded up and stowed easily at camp.

Here's another idea if you're ok with attaching through the trailer skin. Mount a solar module on a piano hinge above the window. Latch it down while towing, tip it up on a couple struts at camp to provide energy and shade. Solar modules are made from tempered glass too so will also break from rock chips, but they stay in one piece when they break because the solar cell encapsulants are flexible materials. Also you could just attach a travel cover over the solar module with bungees.