On Friday it rained and I was dismayed to see that one of our vista view windows was leaking. It's been about four and half years since I removed, cleaned and reinstalled them with Trempro 635, and I had hoped they would have stayed sealed for a lot longer than this. I covered the trailer with a tarp (a depressing sight) until today when it was sunny.
I removed the one that was leaking, cleaned it with soap, rinsed well, then degreaser, rinsed again and then alcohol. I cleaned the frame with a wire brush on a drill, then steel wool and mineral spirits, then degreaser, water and finally alcohol. Then reinstalled the window. I had planned to just re-caulk the other four vista views from outside, but when I looked at them closer three of them also showed signs of the caulking failing so it became a day-long job to remove, clean and reinstall all five.
When we bought the
Sovereign we looked specifically for one with vista views. I'm not ready to remove them, but as nice as they look I'm not sure they're worth the maintenance and potential leaks. And because the interior trim pieces were cracked (and I didn't like the look of them anyway) I'm now into figuring out a way to trim them.
I used strips of wood to keep the window from falling into the trailer as I cut the caulking from the outside:
Signs that the caulking was failing on one of the other vista views:
One frame appears to be distorted a bit so it's narrower in the middle. A thin strip of aluminum with a slight hook on the end worked to deflect the frame slightly to pull out the glass. I needed this to reinstall the glass on that frame as well.
Wedges hold the glass to the frame while the caulking cures, and plastic spacers (at red arrows) keep the window from sliding too low in the frame.
(Or one of us can sleep in the back of the truck which has a cap. With the kids growing up it looks like getting everyone together at the same time is going to be a rare occurrence.)
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