Sunrader/ Fiberglass Rv Window Cutouts

[ToyoGuy]

Hope everyone is staying warm and dry in this winter weather. Fair warning here,… looooong post. No, I mean like War and Peace long. …… Still there? OK so, …after inquiring about price and scheduling to remove and re-seal my front windows,(’85 Sunrader west-coast 18' model) I ended up doing the job myself with the help of a friend. (another post altogether) The window repair-guy couldn’t get to me for about a month to do the job, and I couldn’t wait, so I hired space indoors for a week. This gave me some additional time to tackle another related problem that has plagued my Sunrader‘s coach. Ragged / oversized window openings.( See 1st picture w /penciled outline of the outside of the window frame of my door.( (the 5th picture shows the fixed window.) I thought someone might be interested in how I dealt with the problem and so took some pictures etc. Disclaimer #1, probably not enough pictures..., (but I didn't get fiberglass on the camera)

-Disclaimer #2- Please note, this is just “how I did it”, I am not saying everyone has the time to do these complex fixes, and there are many ways to stop leaks, but I present this information here, more in the spirit of “It worked for me”. I just got tired of dealing with the continuing fallout of someone else’s really bad work and I used to do some fiberglass work in another life. But,. I have now permanently corrected the opening sizes of all but my back window. It was the best of them, is not leaking and will probably get corrected this summer.

Again, as seen in 1st picture, some of my window openings were so badly cut, that the openings almost over-reached the edge of the gasket or window frame. The factory just crammed putty in them to seal them and it eventually proved the demise of the paneling and floor due to leakage that escaped notice through the walls. The door pictured eventually soaked through, de-laminated and required structural fixing as well.

To remedy the coach windows, I studied the openings with the window installed,* and then carefully marked the areas where the voids were located, on the inside of the coach bare walls with a sharpie. Since, on the aluminum framed windows, the extruded lip of the inside of the frame is the same distance from the outer caulked-perimeter all the way around, you can sometimes use the perimeter witness-lines left on the coach paint or gel-coat to figure out how much to fill and how to shape the curve. For the curved plastic overhead windows mounted in rubber, I had to l bend back the outside of the gasket after pulling the rubber locking strand out of it and measure the size of the gaps to make notes / drawings of the gaps. After that, I scuffed the inside of the window opening with coarse sandpaper for an overlap of approximately 2 ½”, laid out paper to catch drips, then stretched wet (with resin) fiberglass cloth across the offending corners ( 2nd picture) where all the over-cut problems seem to occur, not sure why)

Another way I have used, is to lay out a piece of waxed formica and set wet cloth on it to make flat, thin sheets that you can cut with tin-shears after dry, (thanks to yostfmx post!) to make backing patches out of and then use those to fiberglass into corners on the prepped inside of the coach. Either way, to create any strength, one needs to use at least 2 layers of cloth (1 random strand + 1oriented strand together) Once the backing has dried on/ in the corner, it needs to be filled to make it level with the outside sealing surface of the coach. The fill is done with either saturated layers of felt clamped between non-stick plastic sheets,(3rd photo) or ground fiberglass fibers mixed very thick with resin ( 7th picture) troweled onto the backing, sometimes 2 coats thick. (too busy to shoot) With the felt, which I used this last time, you can sandwich it between two pieces of polypropylene plastic (TAP plastic) (again, see 3rd picture) and the sides come out with a smooth, even finish.(4th picture) It’s messy and drips when clamped, but the results are better and quicker. Felt 1/8” thick can be doubled and cut to shape of the corner, then soaked and installed.(sorry, no picture) With the other process of thick fiberglass gunk made out of fibers and resin,(7th picture) you have to mix it thick enough to defy gravity and use a putty knife and kind of trowel it on the side of your patch preferably within 24 hrs of the original work, for good adhesion, which later necessitates using a bodyman’s “cheese-grater” tool on the fill while still warm and soft, to rough-level it for sanding level and finishing to smooth on the outside. (it's much more time consuming, but do-able, as the finished fix on the window in the 6th finished window picture shows). I did 3 this way. To rough-size the inside curve after it's dry, over-estimate the size needed to fix the void and drill pilot holes to guide a dremel tool for rough-cutting. (5th picture)

Finish sizing of the opening/curve is done with a 2”(+- ) sanding drum in a hand-held drill (air-tools tend to spin/cut too fast and you can easily over-cut, then you’re back to square one !) Again, ask me how I know !*&%*^$? Once correctly thicknessed inside to outside, I slightly round the edges of the new area so the windows or gasket don’t snag on them. It is my experience that after all this work, the windows are then MUCH easier to seal, with much more overlap and stay sealed. And they all lived happily ever after,... the end.

*With solid windows in metal frames, you need to remove all the dried-up butyl tape or whatever, then put the window in the wall to see where the over-cuts are.

BR,

TG

[linda s]

Beautiful job. I guess I just got lucky. Both of my Sunraders have windows that fit at least the front ones pretty well.

Linda S

[ToyoGuy]

Thanks Linda, you've probably seen more Sunraders than anyone else I know...... Like a lot of other owners posting / reading here, I just try to give it my best effort every time. And, over the years, I've gotten a lot of great info from all of you guys.

TG

[RunningMan]

did you powdercoat the dor window frame? it looks great in black

great jib ob the fiberglass.. looks factory original

[ToyoGuy]

No, the window frame was black stock color on mine, thanks for the complement. Just noticed that since the ( front / door) picture, I seem to have lost another of those plastic covers for the rain-drip-ports. Guess I'm gonna have to make some or find a couple.