Rear window breakage

Ruth ,
How can that be neccessary when the trapeze described in Post 30438 cuts out 100 % of rocks thrown up ?
I have one and I know they work - not only for the rear windows , but to stop chips being taken out of the tailgate paint .
Willie .

That's fine, Willie. I live in gibber country and during the tourist season see about 12 broken back windscreens per week - and most have some sort of contraption/trapeze/sling. All for the sake of covering the back windscreen. From here it's about 1,000 klms to the nearest fixit.

I tow a variety of tucker trailers as I contract to various people during out tourist season no matter what device they have on thier trailers I have a lexan screen made up that attaches to my rear window with suction cups no problems so far but only tested for about 150k klms. I also take my rear windscreen wiper off in case I engage it accidentally. Cheers Rob

Well Ruth , if they had the correct set up , it would not happen . You are seeing 12 incorrectly installed or poorly designed screns .

Most of them just have a useless screen attached to the front of the trailer , that often actually directs the rocks back towards the car .

If they had the correct design / set uo , they would have no breakages . Well , maybe Rob would , but that's only one - he's accident prone and he always has a really dirty rear window .

Willie .

Go for it Willie , dont bother listening to experienced people who are either doing it day in day out or like Ruth, see it happen on a day to day basis. Willie you realise a rear window even tho they are flat glass, IF you can get one, is a bout 3 times more expensive than a front windscreen. I worry about you Willie, have you seen a doctor about increasing your medication? Cheers Rob

Last year on the Fink track south of Alice I found some young guys in a navara ute with trail bikes who had broken down while pre riding the Fink race track. I flat towed them about 35klms into Alice on a winch extension strap 10 mts long. Even tho we were only going slowly about 50 klms max I had a rock bounce from my wheels to thier car and back to my tailgate leaving an obvious dent. What can you do, could just as easily have been my rear window, schit happens, certainly wasn't prepared to just leave them there. Cheers Rob.

Hi Rob ,

I am sure you were a hero doing this recovery , and I love to hear of your many experiences - to me , you are a larger than life - but what does it have to do with the subject we are talking about ie a device which stops rocks hitting a trailer being bounced back against your car .

I know Ruth has a lot of experience ( she may even be an expert like you - but I hope not ) in as much as she sees the results of poorly designed devices which fail to stop the damage , BUT I have first hand experience with a correctly designed device and I have not a single mark on the duco or glass on the rear of my car . It must have done 10,000 klm plus on dirt roads with this set-up , AND NOT A SINGLE MARK .

I am not an expert like you Rob , so I guess I must look at the price of a new rear window and tell myself I'm an idiot for not seeing the damage I should have realised was there ...

Willie .

Thanks Sand Man - just replied to Willie and then read the reas of the Posts. Wish the Track was wet now - boy of boy is it dry here. Last holes in the river are drying up and the pelicans are finishing off the BIG fish.

Sruth Ruth, we had an elderly lady walking her small dog along our Esplanade in Cairns about 2 years ago, a pelican decided that dog looked like a tasty addition to his menu. Down he swept, scooped up the little dog in his big beak and off he flew, now fotunately for the little dog the elderly lady had the dog on a leash so there she was hanging on to her precious pooch for grim death with the pelican stuggling to get away. Fortunately no harm was done to any of the 3 parties as the pelican decided that maybe dog wasn't on his menu after all. Someone witnessed the whole affair and a front page picture featured on our Cairns Post Newspaper. I love livin' in the tropics. see you in about 6 weeks Ruth. Stay Happy and Well Cheers Rob.

Still laughing about that poor old lady Rob - Ian's cracked up! I was mustering some cattle (on foot) out of the caravan park through Pelican Point the other day - Ian was in the a/c vehicle and rushing through the lignum came upon this beaut yellowbelly still shiny and nice. After we didn't get the cattle out (!!) we checked Jardines waterhole and sure enough about 30 pelicans devouring what's left of the fish - and one pelican must have flown over this spot and dropped his fish. Not as good as your lady though.
I'm over and out on the up above subject - as you are most probably aware I cannot abide fools. That said - we are looking forward to seeing you - you will be shocked how dry it is.

Its a great country we live in, your so dry and its pouring down here, 300mm at Cape Trib on Monday. Its been slow work wise with so much rain but every thing sure is green. Have you been up here before Ruth? Just a bit different to Birdsville ;-) Cheers Rob

Not up your way for a long time, but sure would like to see it. Have a hankering to see a beautiful waterfall.

Sand Man
We had two inches of rain in the Pilbara last year when I was there with my Trak Shak .
The mud was very bad and the track was underwater for considerable distances , BUT somehow my well designed device stopped any rock damage . It did get mud on it , but that was not hard to remove and after it built up - it did not make it unworkable .
Maybe your "trapeze" differs from my "device" !
Sorry ,
Willie .

Good for you Willie,

Perhaps you could market them mate.

Me, I'll stick with the Rear Window Saver.

I was one of the "inexperienced" travellers that visited Ruth a couple of years ago and was lucky that the glass held together by the tint film, duct tape and cardboard each side, until I got home. If it had rained and soaked the cardboard, well that would have been a different matter.

Forgot about the bloke I met on the Oodnadatta track. A stone the size of my fist(considerable) came in through the back window and missed his daughters head by 6 inches

A bit of corflute gaffer taped over the glass. Your local signshop would have some (only need 3mm thick).

Clear Lexan lasts forever and you can see through it. Cheers Rob