Unfortunately, my new 170 has to spend a bunch of time outside this summer, when I'm not at my home strip where my hanger is. So, I bought some aluminum backed insulated material and cut it in the shape of my windows. However, when I started on my windshield, I noticed that the stuff is pretty rigid, and I was getting micro scratches on the inside of the windshield, thus I'm not too keen to put that material in and out (a pretty tight fit due to the float kit v-braces). Kennon does not offer an interior sun shield for the windshield of the 170, although I'm sure one of the 172 units would work. Does anyone have a good suggestion?

www.FarmTek.com Buy some Tek-Foil, and extra insulate your homes water heater. Keep the receipt, next year take the tax credit for energy saving "stuff", use the left over for doing the windows. You can cut it with scissors, and it works real well as a sun reflector.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I had an exterior cover (made by Aircraftcovers.com) on my 182 and it wore the paint in spots when the wind blew. Also seemed to get sand under it, which did no favors to the outside of the windshield.

As far as the Tek-Foil goes, that's exactly the stuff I was working with, when I noticed that it was putting micro scratches on the inside of the windshield when I tried to stuff it behind the v-braces.

Other thoughts?

Have you tried your brothers over here:
http://www.cessna170.org/forums/index.php

If you have room in the back of your aircraft to put it when you are flying, a RIGID sun shield will alleviate all of the problems. The people who have gliders tied down outside all use them ($1500-2500 to replace the large canopies, and desert sand/wind environments)

Put a layer of "spraylat" on the windshield, this is the liquid spray stuff they ship the windshields in. You can brush it on real thick (very desirable, easier to get off).

Tape a layer of 2 inch thick fiberglass insulation over the spraylat.

Cover all of it with a couple of layers of Saran Wrap. Make the Saran Wrap go a few inches past everywhere you are making the shield.

Put four layers of 10 or 12 ounce boat grade fiberglass cloth on. If you cannot do the glass work well enough, have someone from the local EAA chapter or a local boat builder do it for you.

After the resin cures, use a Sharpie to mark a line on the glass skin where it will be trimmed.

Carefully remove the shield, padding, and Spraylat from the windshield. Trim it with tin snips on the line. Put some rubber U-channel on the trimmed edges to prevent it from scratching you or the windshield.

Glue some felt strips around the perimeter where it will contact the airplane (these should all be an inch or so outside of the windshield perimeter).

Test fit it back on the plane, and glue on some hooks or tiedown ring thingies so you can bungee it in place later.

Paint the outside of the shield with silver Krylon spray paint.

When you use this shield, there will be nothing touching your windshield, nothing scratching it, no windblown rocks trashing it, etc. Not only will the sunshine not get into your interior, it will also not sun-bake and craze your windshield.

Again, the downside of this is that you have to be able to keep it in the back of the plane, or at the tiedown nearby when you are flying. It's a full day's project to make this big ugly device, but it will extend the life of your windshield and interior. People who keep their airplanes outside all the time might consider this too. It has an extra benefit of keeping water out.

Good idea EZflap... Keeps the sun off of the whole thing, as anything reflective that is inside, just reflects the sun back onto the windshield, making it similar to having sun on both sides of the windshield..

Give these folks a try: http://www.aviationcovers.com/

I have a cover from them that is now about eight years old. The area that covers the windshield is a different material than the Sunbrella that makes up the rest of the cover.

No scratches yet.

Stay away from velvet type materials since sand grains get trapped and then sand your windshield as the wind moves it around.

TD