Water leaks.....grrrr

[toskeysam]

Well....the Monday monsoons tested my "temporary" seal. FAILED. Back to the beginning. Sealed top edge and front edge. Moving on to bottom edge and the narrow space between the first and second windows......after I hose the side down looking for entry.

[gmillerok1]

Post Postscript. After removing the rear street-side window, and replacing the D-Channel seal, we finally had a good soaking rain last night, and I found no leaks at all. Finally, I got them all.

While the window was out, I gained access to the closeout behind and above the street-side side chair where the middle window is located. Half the window is above the seat, and the other half was behind the wardrobe. Of course, the only thing Airstream put on the window was to slop some brown semi-opaque nasty stuff that did nothing at all beside keep prying eyes of prospective customers from seeing that they put absolutely nothing else to insulate behind it.

I managed to put Reflectix against the glass, and insulation behind it, so now, the wardrobe won't be a warming oven any longer during the day. This is something that has bothered me since I bought the van, but I was not motivated to do anything about it until now.

We leave on a journey to Prince Albert National Park in Canada next week, some 1800 miles north and a couple of hundred west. If anyone has any suggestions of things to see in SD, ND, or Saskatchewan, CN, please let me know. We have a week to get there, 9 days at the park, and a week or more to get back.

[73shark]

Originally Posted by gmillerok1

Of course, the only thing Airstream put on the window was to slop some brown semi-opaque nasty stuff that did nothing at all beside keep prying eyes of prospective customers from seeing that they put absolutely nothing else to insulate behind it.

I wonder if they did the same thing behind the bathroom wall cuz that always felt like a sauna on hot days even w/ the door open.

[gmillerok1]

Originally Posted by 73shark

I wonder if they did the same thing behind the bathroom wall cuz that always felt like a sauna on hot days even w/ the door open.

Absolutely, I can confirm it is exactly the same. The reason I know is because I spent a week at JC and they replaced the shower in a failed attempt to make it drain when the van is level, and they took it completely out. While it was out, I placed Reflectix over the window, then placed more insulation behind it. No more sauna.

You can do the same, by using the access panel on the other side of the bath above the rear side chair. It's not easy, but it can be done.

[73shark]

Guess they just forgot to insulate yours as when I asked them, they assured me that it was insulated.

[Rig Rat]

I realize this is an older thread but was hoping for some advice on my water leak. Both of the top corners of the rubber gasket around the C.R. Laurence window have pulled loose ( see photos). The aft corner is worse and seems to be where the majority of the water infiltration is coming from.
From those of you whom have tackled this repair before, can i just loosen the inside screws around the top and side enough to get this gasket pushed back into place or do I need to remove the window and get a new gasket? TIA!
Mark

[StogieMan]

My turn to deal with this! Drip is coming from one of the screws on the top side. Luckily it is the curbside window in the back so I have a little room to work with.

I might just unscrew all of them and see if there is anything that I might not be seeing. I'm going to call Colonial tomorrow morning and see what I need to order to get this fixed.

[Rig Rat]

Originally Posted by StogieMan

My turn to deal with this! Drip is coming from one of the screws on the top side. Luckily it is the curbside window in the back so I have a little room to work with.

I might just unscrew all of them and see if there is anything that I might not be seeing. I'm going to call Colonial tomorrow morning and see what I need to order to get this fixed.

************************************************** *************

Silicon caulking along the top between the glass and the van body did the trick for our leaks!

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by Rig Rat

************************************************** *************

Silicon caulking along the top between the glass and the van body did the trick for our leaks!

Thanks Rig Rat!

Did you remove all the screws and the whole enclosure? I just got off the phone with Colonial and they ordered a gasket and screws for us. They did mention also adding some SikaFlex. I'll wait until I receive the parts before I get into this project and tear into it.

I just noticed on the invoice that they ordered the torque screws but I'm not going to use those and just replace them with regular #8 stainless steel screws.

If you did remove the whole enclosure did you see this gasket that they're sending me?

Thanks for any info - greatly appreciate it!

[Titus]

Not sure about your rear window, but the replacement window for the sliding door uses a gasket with a D cross-section. I ordered it from Airstream, but if came direct from CR Lawrence. Airstream wasn't sure if it needed the small or large D gasket (and assumed that it didn't come with one), so I ordered both. Turns out that it did come with a gasket (don't recall if it was large or small D). I did a trial install without sikaflex and it seemed to fit fine. So I applied the sikaflex and installed. Somehow I must not have got it oriented quite right during the second install and the back stuck out about 1/8" relative to the fixed window to the rear. Tightening the clamping ring did not draw it in. Rats! But no leaks. It came with a new inside trim/clamping ring. I drilled the trim ring in the same approximate places as the original and reused the old screws.

[Rig Rat]

Did you remove all the screws and the whole enclosure?

*****************************************

No I did not. I originally tightened the top row of screws and that helped somewhat. It caused the water to leak in another spot. So I caulked it and that stop all leaks. I figured if the caulking didn't work, then I'd go your route to get a new gasket and R/R it on the window.

Good Luck. If you can, take some pixs for us! TIA!

[StogieMan]

Thanks Titus & Rig Rat - this info helps. They're sending the D gasket as they looked it up and said that it called for it.

I'll update the thread once I get it completed.

[StogieMan]

Well, I wanted to save some folks some time and aggravation before attempting a complete removal of a CR Lawrence window. We’ve had a nagging leak for a little while now. I previously ordered the screws and D gasket from Airstream and had them on hand and the info is in the above post if you need to order parts. I first tried the silicone and tightening of the screws but that did not work.

So with the help of the Boss lady we went to town on window surgery. What a PITA to remove the Airstream housing window enclosure around the window and the same to put back in. Lucky that we still had everything apart including the seats which made things a bit easier. As with anything AI - game of freaking inches to get to any screw. From the naked eye I could not see where the leak was coming from after we removed the window enclosure frame and figured that it would be obvious when the window was removed and figured that it would probably be some small spot with the D gasket either broken, out of place or missing.

We finally took the CR Lawrence frame apart and started on the window. Once we removed the inside CRL frame, we thought that window would just pop out easily but no! Airstream uses some type of black material that you can see when you open the bottom window out. They used this on the bottom portion of the window for looks IMHO and not have the ugly lines be visible. You need to either remove the material or cut it out with an Xacto knife. We chose to remove the the material and out came the window.

After we removed the window and checked the gasket - all was in place and in very good shape. Airstream actually installed it properly - thank you Airstream! Now I’m scratching my head and saying “what the heck.” We were unable to get a very good look at the gasket from the inside after the CRL frame removal as Airstream cuts the plastic framing very close up to the window and we also wanted to make 100% sure of where it was coming from. So from the inside, I started to pull back on the grey plastic material under the locker and could see that there was a water mark that ran from there onto the top of the window frame and leaking out.

I took a look outside and there is the porch light. Yup, that dang thing was the problem. I removed it and sure enough there was a small gap around where the 12v wires came out and water coming in from the two screw holes as well. I temporarily sealed all three with some SikaFlex until we received the replacement light that we ordered. I broke the old one removing it. Since I then I installed the new one with plenty of SikaFlex around the entry points and even went a step further with some silicone around the top 3/4 of the light.

We checked the window and light after we let it sit for a while with a garden hose and flooded the area - no leaks. We have also gotten some remain after and no leaks thus far. I’m still trying to find the material that Airstream uses and if anyone can point me in that direction - greatly appreciate it. We temporarily used some roofing material until I can find the right material. It doesn’t look that bad.

A couple of things to note if you attempt this project and sorry for not posting pictures but this was a tough project and wanted to get it completed since we had a few sunny days ahead of the project.

1. There is a very small (circled in green) gap around the whole window frame where Mercedes joins the metals together that had some black SikaFlex material around it. When you remove the window some of this comes off and some is removed when you’re cleaning off the old gasket. I used some White SikafFlex around this area and then cleaned it up a bit so that the gasket would sit nicely in that area. I remember the tech from colonial Airstream telling me that I would need some SikaFlex and my guess this is the reason.
2. Removing and cleaning the old D gasket around the the window and window cutout is a long process but a must so that the new gasket adheres well. Take your time and do it right.
3. When putting the CR Lawrence frame back on from the inside make sure you put in screws in a zig zag way as not to tighten one area. Get them all in and tighten in the same fashion.


So there you have it in a nutshell and hope that it helps someone. Below is the link to the replacement light as well.


https://itcshopnow.com/products/led-...1af61bbb&_ss=r

[StogieMan]

I just wanted to follow up and provide an update. Knock on something but all has been good and no leaks. We’ve been through some monsoons and not a drop. That means that the area under the light is now sealed properly and that we also did a good job reinstalling the window which was my concern.

For the material around the bottom half of the window, I decided to go with anti slip traction tape. It has the same feel to it and looks the same. Ordered a 12” wide one that would cover the bottom half. We removed that temporarily roofing material that wasn’t holding up and installed this about a week after and is holding up well. I ordered it from Amazon and when I get a chance, going to replace the drivers side window one too as it’s starting to show its age and curling up.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1