Broken Vista View - double pane - question...

[andymeyer]

So, we have been wondering what to do with the crystallized vista view windows - ours are glass inside and out. We carefully cracked out the inner pane on the first one last night - a little work and it was out, about half of the caulk pulled, and cleaned a lot of the glass.
Went to bed feeling accomplished.
This morning, my wife goes out to watch my 7 year old head off to the bus and the outer pane had spiderwebbed in place. No evidence of an initial point of fracture. I was careful not to hit it and didn't see any evidence of a point of contact from last night.

So, I have to pull this one. Can I pull another one and use the inner glass on another as the outer glass on this one? Better options?

[Andy Moreau]

I would not recommend using the inner pane as the outer due to the fact that it is not tempered. In other words, If it were to break while someone was under it, Daggers would be falling towards them. I've drilled out my Vistas and have had to use a saw to cut the pins holding the two halves together. I've gotten as far as splitting the two panes and tinting the outer. I'm at a stand still on how to remove the pins as over time, they fused with the aluminum. My next step is to take them to a machine shop and let them have a wack at it. NOTE: you will need to remove interior skin to access the back of the buck rivets when reinstalling.

[Belegedhel]

My vistas had an interior "pane" made out of plastic and held in place by a sort of "split ring". Once I removed the interior pane, I was able to get the exterior pane out without removing the frame from the trailer (as the pane is oblong and can be tilted just enough to get it past the interior lip on the frame.

So even though my configuration is different than yours, my recommendation would be to try to get a single, exterior pane, and try to fit it in place without removing the frame from the trailer. The challenge then is to fill that frame with some kind of potting or glazing so that the pane is supported. I found that 3/8" air compressor hose jammed into that space, and then followed with the split ring did the trick. Sealed the glass to the frame with silicon.

good luck!