Maintenance & Restoration

stevebgrassvalley · 06-29-2010, 09:17 AM

I recently removed all my windows on my 87 lil Big and wanted to know about the gapping around the frame. I cleaned and applied new butyl tape around the frame but there is still a gap between the frame and the body even after I screw the inner frame to the outer. I'm sure that as long as there is tape between the two I should be fine; however, the gap that the tape has to fill is at times more than an 1/8. Is this normal? what to do if the gap is slightly larger than that? use extra butyl? I just don't like the idea of such a large gap and after having to replace half my floor due to water caused by leaking windows and failing silicon (previous owner!!!) I want to do everything I can to make sure that rain water stays where it's supposed to, OUTSIDE!!. Any thoughts?

Lizbeth · 06-29-2010, 11:28 AM

On my Boler I doubled the tape. A single layer did not fill the gap all the way around, quite a bit oozed out in some areas and in some areas it just filled the gap. My windows are riveted in and then the interior trim is screwed on.

I assume the gap problem is normal, as the windows are flat and the trailer is slightly curved.

stevebgrassvalley · 06-29-2010, 05:32 PM

Quote:

On my Boler I doubled the tape. A single layer did not fill the gap all the way around, quite a bit oozed out in some areas and in some areas it just filled the gap. My windows are riveted in and then the interior trim is screwed on.

I assume the gap problem is normal, as the windows are flat and the trailer is slightly curved.

thanks for the response. I actually picked up another roll of butyl tape earlier today and that was going to be my method for the gapping unless I heard something else.

John DM · 07-23-2015, 06:27 PM

Hi Stevebgrassvalley. I am having the same problem with my 1987 bigfoot. It's the window on the sink side of the trailer. I thought the factory or previous owner didn't do it properly. I re-installed it and am having the same problem as you describe. Did you have any problems with your installation since 2010?

trainjunkie · 07-24-2015, 07:14 AM

When you tightened the screws from the inside did you do them a little at a time in sort of a criss-cross pattern? Sounds to me like they were unevenly tightened. There should not be an 1/8-inch gap.

Bob Miller · 07-24-2015, 07:28 AM

I ran into the same issue on our Lil' Bigfoot several years back when I resealed the windows. What I did was to divide the width of the gap in half and made small wood strips to space/lift the window up that much in the opening and centered it front to back. Used extra wide Butyl tape and all was fine.

BTW: If any of the inside frame screws don't pull down tight I usually drill holes for extra screws on each side of the pulled out screws.

John DM · 07-24-2015, 04:54 PM

FIXED it. Thanks for the advice.
After removing the window and putty again, I found the gap was too big, which was probably a factory error. I only affects the sink window since that frame is put on reverse of the others to accommodate the extra thickness of the kitchen wall panel.

The gap was about 1" (2.5cm). I had to add about 3/10" (7mm). I used some left over floor laminate strips, glued it to the existing plywood spacer. The window installed nice, flush and tight, so no need for more gobs of silicone needed!

The attached picture (sorry for the bad focus) shows the outer wall, factory plywood spacer, my added spacer, then the inner wall panel.