Maintenance & Restoration

David Joseph · 01-03-2007, 02:22 PM

Help, a golf ball shattered the side slider window in my 17' Burro Widebody. The outside dimensions of the frame is approximately 19 x 37. Anybody know the manufacturer? If I can't track down who made the window, I guess I have to take it to a glass shop?

Donna D. · 01-03-2007, 02:29 PM

Probably Hehr is the manufacturer? You'll find it cheaper to take it out and go to a glass shop. Shipping glass is EXPENSIVE! Don't ask me how I know.

Brian B-P · 01-03-2007, 02:43 PM

I took out one of my Boler windows, and had a local glass shop replace a cracked pane. It a routine job for them, and undoubtedly less expensive than shipping anything, or buying a new window. The only problem is that they did not have any of the glazing bead moulding (only RV shops have it), so they had to put the old moulding back in - that moulding can be replaced at any time, so it's not a big deal.

David Joseph · 01-07-2007, 01:58 PM

Thanks for the useful info. I took off the metal frame on the inside holding the window in place, but the thing won't budge. Obviously they used a mighty sealer/adhesive when they pressed the window in place. Any suggestions on how to force the window out? Brute force doesn't seem to be the answer. I hate to start prying, something usually gets broken.

Donna D. · 01-07-2007, 05:54 PM

NO, NO, NO DON'T PRY!! You'll tweak the window. Take flat edge...like putty knife and run it between the fiberglass and the frame...all the way around. May have to go around several times, each time getting closer to the "center" of the frame. I'm thinking it's putty tape and it's really stuck. Imagine it's stuck with Play-Doh... You need to break the bond between the putty and the fiberglass. Then you'll need to "peel" off the tape from the frame, it cleans up pretty well. When replacing the window, reinstall with Butyl Tape.

Let us know how it goes

**Frederick L. Simson** · 01-07-2007, 08:23 PM

Quote:

I took out one of my Boler windows, and had a local glass shop replace a cracked pane. It a routine job for them, and undoubtedly less expensive than shipping anything, or buying a new window. [b]The only problem is that they did not have any of the glazing bead moulding (only RV shops have it), so they had to put the old moulding back in - that moulding can be replaced at any time, so it's not a big deal.

Thanks Brian for that information.

I have to replace the glass in the Fiber Stream's bathroom window. It was cracked when I bought it, and repairing it has been low on the list... but now I'm working the list down to that. I'll want to get the glazing bead before I take it to the glass shop.

Gina D. · 01-07-2007, 09:26 PM

Quote:

NO, NO, NO DON'T PRY!!

This is what I keep telling my mother....

Donna D. · 01-07-2007, 09:53 PM

Quote:

I'll want to get the glazing bead before I take it to the glass shop.

If it's a Hehr window, the rubber "bead" is strictly for looks. If the glass shop is careful, they can remove the bead, replace the glass and reinstall the bead. It's rubber and "snaps" back into a channel around the window. The glass itself sits on a "shelf" that they'll use to silicone the glass to the frame. I took the door window out of my Scamp (it was a slider) and turned it into a one piece window. I removed the bead myself and took the frame to the glass shop to have them fit/install the glass. I've since snapped the bead back in and reinstalled the window using Butyl tape.

If you need new bead rubber, you may have luck at one of these links:
Window and Window Parts Interstate has been recommended as a good company to do business with by a member on FiberglassRV.

Alf S. · 01-07-2007, 11:13 PM

Quote:

This is what I keep telling my mother....

Hi: " Big girls don't pry"

Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

Brian B-P · 01-08-2007, 12:35 AM

Donna's right, in that the glass is stuck into the frame and the bead just presses (I wouldn't really say "snaps") in over it; however, I'm not sure that it is entirely cosmetic. It is expensive, and with time I find that it shrinks, leaving gaps at the corners.

The reason I had to replace that one cracked pane is that I didn't adequately release the putty, pulled too hard, and twisted the frame enough to crack the glass (but not hurt the frame), so... one more time... don't pry.

I used a thin knife - the snap-off-blade kind - but I'm sure the right putty knife would work too: thin is the key. That's assuming that the Burro window is the same style as the Hehr units in my Boler, and it sounds like it is if it has a retaining ring on the inside which clamps the frame into the body opening.

David Joseph · 01-08-2007, 10:42 AM

Exactly right, Brian. It's going to have to be thin. I made an attempt in the fading daylight last night using a putty knife. There's no way to get the blade into the gap, what gap there is. When the window was initially installed they pressed it on tight. Compounding the job is the fact that the window is recessed top and bottom by a fiberglass ridge, making it harder to get a tool with a blade in there. I'll be wary of doing any frame twisting, so I don't lose the other pane.

You're right, Donna, it's got to be a Hehr. The rubber bead is just like you describe it.

Donna D. · 01-08-2007, 10:59 AM

David, I've been thinking about this....I've got to pull four windows out of my trailer in the spring. I didn't have problems with the door window, but the others

So, taking a lesson from Cake Cutting 101, I wonder if building a "window garrote" would work? Taking a stout, but thin piece of wire (piano wire?) of sufficient length with the ends wound around two "sticks" to use as handles. Could one "pull" through the putty??

I use dental floss to cut cake (thank you Martha Stewart!), and I suppose you could use that too on the putty....but it would break fairly easily....hey a 100yd box of dental floss is only a couple of bucks....might be worth a try??

hummmmm.

David Joseph · 01-08-2007, 11:43 AM

Your garrote idea might be worth a try, Donna. My wife tells me potters use something similar when throwing pots. Dental floss? Way too weak, but the piano wire may work. Since I'm fresh out of piano wire, how about a high E guitar string?

The putty in my frame (which I can see and feel globs of from the inside) is very stiff. How about this: warming the frame with a hair drier to soften up the putty?

Donna D. · 01-08-2007, 12:00 PM

I think I'd try it without warming first....why not it would be less bother. I don't know if heating the frame would soften the putty...or make it harder...either.

Let us know if this ends up working, and I think a guitar string would work just fine...it it's long enough to reach around the longest window...not all the way around obviously, but enough to cross over at least two corners.

Brian B-P · 01-08-2007, 01:06 PM

I think the "window garrote" is a good idea, given the difficult access on the outside (on the Boler it's a straight shot in from any direction to any window on the sides). I believe that a similar technique is sometimes used with automotive windshields, which are typically held in by a much stronger adhesive, not just putty. Maybe someone helpful at an auto glass place would have suggestions for specific tools and techniques?

Donna D. · 01-08-2007, 08:52 PM

Okay, came up with some other ideas. I'm a cheap shrew and don't have a spare piano wire, or even a guitar string, but I do have 75 lb test line on a fishing reel and if I couldn't find where that's buried in the garage, I know I can lay my hands on the spool of line I just recently bought for my weedwacker.

In fact, I think either the fishing line or the weedwacker line would be a better choice over the metal.....less chance of "sawing" into the fiberglass or the window frame.

Gina D. · 01-08-2007, 10:20 PM

Cheese cutter. Go to the 99 cent store and get one of those cheese slicers that are basically a bow arangement.

If that fails, I think I can find a guitar string... somewhere... around here...

David Joseph · 01-12-2007, 12:06 PM

Here's the last word on my window adventure. In short, I never got it out. I'm convinced the only way that window is coming out is in pieces. The clearance between the aluminum frame and the fiberglass is so small I can't even wedge a razor blade in in most places.

So, I took the easy route, which I should have done in the first place, had I been thinking. I removed the glass from the frame by pulling off the rubber trim on the inside and carefully extracted the broken glass (non-tempered, by the way). I made a posterboard template of the old glass to make sure it would slide into the frame and install correctly. I took the template to a glass shop, where they said it would take 3 days and that'll be $44, please. Apparently they are legally bound to sell only tempered glass for RV installation. Maybe this is a California thing. Now I'm waiting for the glass to arrive and hopefully it'll be smooth sailing.

BTW--Has anyone ever camped at Jalama Beach, just south of Vandenburg AFB?

Brian B-P · 01-12-2007, 01:12 PM

Quote:

...Apparently they are legally bound to sell only tempered glass for RV installation. Maybe this is a California thing...

I can believe that this varies by jurisdiction, but it may also be possible that the term "RV" is the problem. In a motorhome, which is occupied while being driven, tempered glass is a reasonable safety requirement. In a trailer (which is an RV, but maybe not the kind they were thinking), I can't think of any good reason. Of course, good reasons and laws are not closely related.