Water in Wing Window!

[Navigator]

The last rain resulted in converting my wing window into an aquarium! No kidding, there was about 5 inches of water between the 2 glass panes.
Now I see that there is a scum line inside.
Is there any way of disassembling the window to clean the glass inside, then rebedding and resealing without breaking the glass?
Dick

[Chas]

I had to redo both of the ones on my 74 Overlander. You really want to lose the inner pane, Airstream stopped making them double pane due to all the problems.

Begin by drilling out all the rivets on the exterior framing, a bunch of them!, then remove the units, disassemble the frames and pull the glass units out. Separate the glass and then toss the old gasket and the inner glass. Clean everything up real good with laquer thinner then reassemble them with just the outer pane of glass fitted loose in the frames. Get some rubber pieces and shim the glass tight inside the frame, leaving a small gap at the inside edges, at the front facing of the frame and a wide gap at the inside where the other frame and gasket was and then bed it in with Vulkem. I used silicone on mine but it has been said here that Vulkem is better, I bet it is easier to clean up than silicone! You will need olympic rivets and a rivet shaver to put them back in, more Vulkem and maybe even some double edge tape, but I just used Vulkem.

Good Luck!!

[Navigator]

Chas,
Thanks for the scoop on wing windows.
If I drill out the exterior rivets, I think that I may have trouble keeping the bit centered over the rivet, and am afraid that if the drill bit wanders it may make the hole alot bigger than desired.
Is there a jig, or fixture that would hold the bit centered? And if so, where can I get one? Also do you know of anyone who would rent a river shaver?
Dick

[markus]

The members photo link is down now so I em giving my 2cents without checking my sorce.
I recall surfing the members photos and for the heck of it chose "pics most unused or unliked or something" again with the site down I em not sure what the option was, anywho some one replaced a vista view window from the inside w/out breaking or deriviting any thing!at least a dozen or so pics showed the procces.
I have the same trailer as you and I em thinking what your calling a wing window is a vista view its the only double "pain" window in the TT. again FWIW

Markus

[Rog0525]

I believe THIS is the thread Markus referred to.

Rog

[Navigator]

Marcus,
Unless I'm badly mistaken, there can be only (2) "wing" windows on a trailer, and they are in the front corner above the hitch.

Vista View windows are the ones in the roof, and below side windows, and can be as many as (9).

Dick

[Chas]

Dick,

I had an easy time drilling my rivets out as they were already olympic rivets, had the stems in them which were easily depressed for drilling. It looked as if the windows had been replace some years before, I think Airstream warranteed a bunch of them back in the day. As far as your situation goes, I have heard that you can use a some sort of spring loaded self actuated center punch to properly punch the heads of your factory rivets for drilling.

I think the old "shattering the inside pane" trick is reckless at best, you still need to remove the old gasket and properly clean and prepare the unit for resealing, if you have the unit out you can do all this much easier.

Chas

[Navigator]

Chas,
Yeah! I have one of those; Its called a center punch. Why didn't I think of that??
Thanks,
Dick

[LuminumTraila]

When I was looking at WBCCI websites, I came across a very nice pictorial showing the replacement of a vista view window in a 1977 Sovereign. The author called it a "de-fogging".

Don't know if it will be helpful or not, but I thought I would offer the site in case you're interested. I was fascinated by it, and I don't even have any windows in need of replacing. Not yet anyway.

http://www.pfredd.com/airstream/vview/vview.htm

[markus]

"my-Bad"
Your right Dick, I don't know what I was thinkin!
sorry!!

Markus