Pictures of Removing a Curved Argosy Window

[Chopper]

Hi all,

I've taken out my Argosy fogged streetside curved window (I've been calling it the wing window, but I think that may be an Airstream term, judging by the posts I've been "searching" through).

It is plexiglass, and it is all shot.

It seems that the repair was done by removing the factory rivets on the top, bottom and right side of the frame. The rivets used to put the frame back on the body seem different from the factory rivets that were left in place in that:
1. Using the center punch to make a starter hole cleared the center stem right away with little effort,
2. Some of the rivets were showing a hollow center stem already,
3. The rivet heads could be popped off easily with a chisel because drilling them made them loose (if they already didn't spin in their holes),
4. The stems (after the head pops off) were loose in the hole.

I wonder what kind of rivets those were. I know that some on the body elsewhere where steel rivets because they were all rusted and were much harder to chisel the heads off of.

Plus the factory rivets are less bulbed out.

Hope the info helps. There's no learning like just doing it and taking the thing apart! Of course...putting it all back together, now that's an experience!

Cheers!

[Chopper]

Here's some shots of the window coming out.

It was far different from what I imagined. I thought that there was an outer frame, then some caulking to the glass, then the glass, then caulking to an inner frame that stays on the body.

What I found was that there is only one frame with a C-channel filled with caulking or black sticky rubbery gunk that holds the glass in place. The frame looks like it splits apart (top half and bottom half) to allow removal of the glass.

But...question: How do I release the glass from the black sticky rubbery gunk? Do I keep scraping away? or is there a chemical that will melt that stuff away?

I think that what I need to do is:
1. Order the replacement glass,
2. Get the old plexiglass out of the frame,
3. Put the new glass into the frame with new black gunk,
4. Put the whole assembly back on the body.

If this works, then I'll take the curbside curved glass frame out too so that I can replace the gunk in that side. But then, those are all the original rivets that need a little more elbow grease.

Thanks for any advice!

Cheers!

[Chopper]

The stuff that kept the original window in place seems to be of a whiter material, but it's all mossy now, which is why I want to clean it out.

Ugh!

[Chopper]

Well, looking at the streetside curved window body hole...there was some epic battle earlier...it's dented up and scratch, and a lot of the rivets weren't even reaching the frame inside. Plus the original caulking has disintegrated. Talk about a leaky boat.

But I'm up to the task!

Cheers!

[clancy_boy]

Nice Work, Good Luck. Post some pics of the completed job.

[juel]

Great to see an Argosy getting the TLC it deserves. I'll keep this in mind if mine ever needs window replacements. OH NO! Hope that never happens. Let us see how this turns out and how the entire Argosy looks. I always like to see good Argosys made better.

[Chopper]

Thanks for the support. The more I get "under its skin" the more I'm finding to repair. I got some flak for gutting the interior because it "looked good", but now that the interior is empty, I see lots and lots of water damage. And as I take off the window frames and rub rails, I see that a LOT of the old sealants are gone.

I know that under the interior skin there is a whole lot of work to do (and don't get me thinking about what I'll find when/if I drop the belly pan), but I have to get my Argy in shape for next summer, so first things first! Let's make this baby usable!

Cheers!