leaking windows

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Lanny ... just winging it here ... but have you visited your local home improvement store and looked at the various weatherstripping stuff?

Looking at your window, it seems you could maybe use a little strip of 1/8 inch adhesive-backed foam along the top and sides of the inside frame ... when shut, the exterior frame would compress the foam and perhaps stop the leak.

Since the foam is adhesive backed ... if it didn't work, it would be easy to undo.

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Don't put the foam along the bottom. The "pictured" hole is a precursor to a weep hole ... in that it would allow any condensation on the inside of the window to drain off the window and out off the exterior frame.

It doesn't appear you have the type of window that had an actual drain channel.

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Lanny
Because your windows tilt out there must be some sort of rubber seal or flap to stop the water coming in especially at the top. Perhaps this rubber is long gone.

Our Trillium windows tilt out also but there is three panels that tilt. They overlap each other but at the top of the top panel is a small rubber flap. Yours could be similar and is missing the top flap.
Nancy

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Thanks Nancy, good morning.
I was thinking that there must be something missing but in spite of the terrible condition of everything on the trailer, I would think at least some fragment of the missing piece would have been still attached on one of the three windows? The design looked to be really simple. The outer frame holding the glass, just has a lip at the top which fits into a grove on the window from in the shell.. Its a puzzle?
Lanny

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Thanks Charles,
I missed your note earlier.
there was , or is a foam strip on the inside. I had thought about replacing it but that would only contribute to stopping the leak when they are closed tight. Shouldn't I be able to have the windows open in the rain?
Lanny

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Lanny, I agree with Nancy ... if there is not some sort of rubber or plastic flap, then I don't think you'll be able to open the window in the rain ... or atleast open it very much.

I am more concerned about you saying the trailer leaks with the window shut.

If the foam you say was/is there seems to be something added after-market, perhaps by some dummy like me, maybe you should remove it and see if the window leaks in the rain.

Hey, I also just had a thought. I've seen RV's where the window is candilevered out a little bit at the top ... in other words, the top lip isn't flush against the side of the trailer, so that the lip catches water and channels it off to the sides. Maybe this is how these windows were orginally installed ... and when you installed it flat is allowing all the run-off from the roof to roll right over the window.

I've installed strips of EZ-gutter (I think Morgan installed a long strip to catch runoff along his awning) over all my windows ... not because any of them leak ... but just to channel some of the water away from the windows for good measure.

The EZ gutter stays stuck ... provided you prepare the trailer surface properly.

You might try a strip of EZ gutter.

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Hey, wait......

Sorry I've been out of pocket. This is exactly like my emergency window. DO NOT use the foam stuff. That is exactly what the former owners of mine did and it ends of serving as a wick once it get soaked. Plus, it was in the wrong place which made it hard for me to figure out where it went. Thanks to Charles, I finally got to the bottom of it.

Charles, don't you think it's like the gasket on the Emergency window?

Let me see if I can get a picture of my emergency window open...it will give you a better idea.

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Lanny, Unfortunately I am unable to accomplish the picture right now.

They are probably Hehr windows. You might give someone there a call. Even if they don't still makes those windows, someone may remember them.

Hang in there...we'll figure this out.

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My larger windows are a different shape but basically the same design. They have a type of tongue and grove molding on the top. They don't leak? There is no evidence, however that anything like this was ever on the smaller ones.
Here is a, not to scale, approximation drawing of what it looks like. The top piece appears to be aluminum. The bottom piece is slightly curved and looks to be hard plastic. Ever see anything like this for sale?

Lanny<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3e00ad7e53e0awindowdrawing.jpg/>

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But kinda nice.
Lanny,
Did you say you used silicon to mount those windows?
Silicon can dry with cracks in it or can get mushed out when installing the window allowing water to flow .
Windows, as far as I know,and any other doors should be mounted to the outside wall of the camper with butyl rubber tape. This stuff comes on rolls of 3/4 " wide and is sort of nasty feeling, like putty, but easy to work with ( unless its really hot out, then its gooey).
Costs about 4 bucks a roll, can get it at any rv place.
Just put the tape flat around the flange of the window( don't stretch it) overlap at any seams. Mount the window, screw in the screws which will make some excess tape ooze out on the outside wall (this is good). trim off the excess ooze with a plastic or wooden stick.
This stuff will also fill in any slack from ,say ,a wavy fiberglass wall.
Window flat + wall wavy = leak point.
Then for good measure you can run a bead of rv stuff I forget the name ( something like r440 ) ask the RV guy, around the edge. Its like a super silicon, comes in white.

This stuff is also good for sealing all the wire holes from the running lights and tailights, another source of leakage.

The above has made my Burro happy.

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Thanks Pete, yeah, I used 100% silicone. The best Lowe's sells. Its only been on there though for a couple of months. I don't think it would have cracked already, on all three windows. Do you?

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Lanny,
Its not so much that it cracks but dries with microscopic cracks in it.
I'll have to see if I can find that URL. Once I read that ,I decided that silicon wasn't the cure all its cracked up to be.

Pun,pun

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Lanny,
I can't find the article, but the stuff I use around the edge of the window frame is called Parbond.