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Old 06-10-2012, 04:24 AM   #1
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Vista View Windows Wet

My 86 Classic has 4 vista view windows below regular windows in the sitting area and dinnete of the trailer. All 4 have moisture inside of them, between the glass panes. One of them has an inch of water in it.

Is theire a repair method for these vista windows?

David
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Old 06-10-2012, 05:49 AM   #2
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You might try a blow dryer to heat up the area and the condensation should evaporate.
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Old 06-10-2012, 06:56 AM   #3
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David,

I am not familiar with the window construction in that late a year of trailer. But from what I gather there are a couple of choices. One is to completely disassemble them and find a replacement gasket. Another method that I have seen used for the front curved windows is to carefully, very carefully drill a drain hole at the bottom of the frame just under the glass that will allow the water to drain. However I think by doing this you might be counteracting the thermal efficiency of the glass, but then again how thermally efficient an insulator is waster?

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Old 06-10-2012, 05:58 PM   #4
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Pictures of wet Vista Windows

I should have attached a couple photos of my wet windows. There are over 50 blind rivets holding them to the outer skins. They stay wet even when left in the super dry Estes Park August sunshine at 9 thousand feet high. Skin temps were over 130 degrees. Maybe the only fix is replacing them. Big job!

David
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Old 06-10-2012, 06:06 PM   #5
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David,
It definitely looks like the gaskets have failed. I have replaced a curved vista view already. They aren't too hard if you go back with Olympic rivets, but that is a whole can of worms. My windows like yours are single pane so no water issues. Hopefully someone else that has dealt with the issue will chime in. Currently the only double pane windows I have left are the curved corner windows on the front and only one of mine has moisture in it at this point.

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Old 06-10-2012, 07:13 PM   #6
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Hi david jsut to clarify things, those windows below the lift up windows are called STACK windows. VV's are overhead above the lift up windows. The glass can be removed from the interior of the trailer after removing the ABS shroud or closeout in A/S terminology. You do not need to drill out the buck (soild) rivets holding the stack window frame to the shell of the trailer. a replacement gasket will be nearly impossible to find. A/S does not sell it because they want to sell you a whole new window. You can discard the gasket and reinstall the glass after clean up in a bed of Vulkem (trempro as it's called now) polyurethne sealant. Use a few small spacers imbeded into the vulkem to keep the glass away from the frame. Support the glass until the vulkem sets and then reseal the stack window frame to the shell of the trailer.
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Old 06-12-2012, 04:16 AM   #7
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Thank you kindly. Great information. I did not know these windows were called stack windows. I did not know you could seperate the two panes of glass in these stack windows from the inside. I figured they were stacked together as an inseperable assembly filled with insulating gas similar to the dual pane windows in my home.

I like the idea of forming a gasket with a caulk sealant and spacers. I think this will be a low cost way of getting the moisture out of these windows.

Heck, maybe they would work just fine as old fashioned single pane windows. Then my moisture problems would be gone for good. We don't do winter camping, and my Airstream is not a well insulated home, that's for sure.

Your input has been very helpful. I will conduct the "surgery" on my wet windows soon.

Thanks again,

David
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Old 06-12-2012, 06:50 AM   #8
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David,

You might think about adding some desiccant beads in between the window panes when you put them back together. That will help absorb any moisture that gets trapped in there when you assemble them and keep them from fogging. I've seen others use the beads, but I'm not sure where to get them.

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Old 06-16-2012, 05:54 PM   #9
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Stack Windows Interior Glass Removal?

Can someone help me figure out how to remove the interior glass pane from my wet stack windows. It appears the glass is trapped in the frame. It appears the aluminum frame is two "C" shaped channels welded together at the top and bottom.

I would like to disassemble these windows, dry them out, clean them up, and reassemble them. I think replacing them would be very expensive.

Any help on getting them apart is greatly appreciated.

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Old 06-17-2012, 08:53 AM   #10
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Hi David,

Some of the windows you can remove the inner pane without taking the entire frame out of the trailer, and some you can't. Looks like you fall into the "some you can't" category. You'll need to remove the window from the trainer by drilling out all the rivets on the outside, and then pulling the window out. You’ll need to clean up the vulkum as well, on both the inside and outside. Once you have the window out, you’ll see the two joints in the frame. Each joint is held together with a spline inside the frame, held by 2 rivets on each side. Drill out the rivets on one side of the spline at both joints, and carefully pull the frame apart. Once apart, you can see how the two panes of glass are held in place, so you can duplicate that for the reassembly.

While it sounds daunting, removing the window from the trailer isn’t really all that hard. Use a center punch to make a dimple in the center of each rivet, and drill it out with a 1/8” bit. Some of them may need to be persuaded to come out way with a small chisel or putty knife. Try not to enlarge the rivet holes to much. When you reinstall the window, put a bead of vulkum around the opening to set the frame into. Drill out the rivet holes with the proper sized drill bit for the Olympic rivets (a #7 or 7/32 I think), put a drop of vulkum in each rivet hole, and install the Olympic rivet. If you have clecos to hold the frame in place while you start added rivets, that would be helpful, but not a real requirement for installing these windows.

Olympic rivets and drill bits for them can be purchased at Vintage Trailer Supply, Out of Doors Mart, or Inland RV. Or your local airstream dealer if you have one close to you.

Hope this helps.

Chris
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Old 06-18-2012, 04:20 AM   #11
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Thank you for your information on these oval "stack" windows. All 4 of mine have failed gaskets and are wet between the panes. I was hopeful that I could disassemble them and reseal them from the inside, but such is not the case.

Removing them is not on the list of summer projects this year. I wonder if any Airstream Forum members have removed and rebuilt stack windows? I can see all kinds of problems developing by tackling a project like this, specifically damaged outer skins pushing the window out.

David
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Old 06-18-2012, 07:47 AM   #12
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I have not tackled this problem yet myself. My Vista view stacked windows below the pop out windows have failed just like the photos above. You should not have to remove the entire stack to get the vista view window out of the frame for the stack. I think it is glued in there not riveted. The entire stack is riveted to the trailer but the vista view is not riveted to the stack frame. The frame on the vista view looks like all the other frames in my trailer. They are a continuous extrusion and the glass is put together and the frame is wrapped around the glass. There is no way to get the window out without pulling the two halves of the frame apart. You will notice there is a seam at the top and bottom of the window. This is where you will have to separate the two halves once you have the window out of the stacked frame.


Here is a thread to look at. I think your frame is similar to the drawings I made in the thread below.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f454...s-86615-2.html


Perry
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Old 06-19-2012, 04:50 AM   #13
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Perry,

I reviewed your earlier thread and AutoCAD drawings. Your experience with these windows in helpful. You are right, there must be some frame design that allows the assembly of two glass panes with a gasket to the flange that is riveted to the outside skins of the trailer. If I were to buy a complete replacement window, what would it look like? Would it have the outside flange with fifty some holes punched in it, and then the glass panes glued to the flange?

I have 25 year old clauking smeared nice and thick all the way around the stack window assembly. It is aged hard. I think the culking seals the frame to the outer skin. The outside of the stack window frame has a seam in the aluminum, same as the inside of the window frame. It looks like there are two "C" shaped aluminum channels that encase the glass panes, and the only way to get the glass panes out is to remove the entire window.

From the Airstream Forum threads, it sounds like there have been variations to the design and manufacture of these oval windows. Maybe Airstream figured if one was broken or failed, it would just be replaced as an inseperable assembly.

I wonder what a replacement stack window might cost?

If anyone has ever taken a vista view or stack window apart, please chime in.

I started a thread in the Windows Doors and Locks section of the Forum just thinking someone might look there and have some information that might help me.

David
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Old 06-19-2012, 06:30 AM   #14
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I think the Vista View Window has to come out of the frame for the stack. It is not riveted and it does not look like it is welded so it must be epoxied in there. I am not sure if the replacement vista view windows have rivet holes in them or not. \

You can make it so no more water can get in by sealing the outer edge that has the 25 yrs of caulk on it and cut the exposed part of the gasket between frame and the glass away from the window. You can replace what you took out with Trempro-635 or something similar. You will also want to seal the seam between the halves with something like Parbond.

I would start by getting all the caulk on the inside and outside off so you can see what is holding the window in there. Gumout carb cleaner works pretty good to soften stuff up. You need to get the bulk off first though. Believe me you don't want to buy a whole stack window. I would expect at least $1000 for one not including labor.

Perry
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Old 07-21-2012, 07:42 AM   #15
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Wait!

Ok, so I also have the double-pane GLASS vv and stack windows (77 Sovereign). I really wanted to be able to see through the windows so I tackled it. I couldn't find info on the forums specific to these windows other than a lot of references to "a lot of threads".

I started with a VV since they were the ugliest. The window is encased in the alum extrusion that is riveted to the outside shell. (Interestingly mine were riveted in with Olympic rivets, not bucked... repaired? replaced?) Removal of the whole assembly was pretty simple. 53 1/8" holes, thin metal putty knife to cut the old caulk/foam, and out she came. I was excited at that point... not so later.

The two halves of the extrusion are not welded; they may have a little putty that looks like weld. They do have STEEL rivets going into a STEEL bar that fits into a channel in each side of the extrusion. The problem is that (actually "those" since there are two on each side but only one is riveted) steel bar. With all of that water that you and I had, the steel bars rusted to high heaven and "expanded" in the extrusion making it very difficult to slide apart to get the glass out. Actually this is the second problem. The first is that those rivets were steel and very difficult to drill out of soft aluminum. I decided to grind them off instead (wrong decision). when I started to punch them down, the back end of the rivet plunked right into the edge of the exterior safety glass. Oops. So I called the local dealer. The windows ARE available, are 6-8 week back-order, and like noted elsewhere, are NOT double pane... to avoid future double pain. I think he said they are $267 or something close to that.

I really wanted to re-seal the double panes but can not figure out how to get it apart so I decided to tackle the rest by just breaking out the interior pane of glass. Anyone know of a molding to fit back in the resulting gap?

I will try to post pic's later today of the one I have apart so you can see what I found.

sad to have to work the day-job on a saturday,
Scott
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Old 07-21-2012, 02:13 PM   #16
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You took the whole stack window out? How does the vista window mount in the stack frame? If you have one of the two window intact can't you use that as the outer window? I am not sure what you can use as a gasket. You could probably make something to fit that gap using EDPM foam rubber. McMaster Carr has some of this in various sizes (mcmaster.com). You might also consider scratch coated lexan.

Interesting link about custom laminated glass. Maybe they could cut you some blanks cheap.

Tri-Valley Auto Glass

This one looks like fun. We need to get Zep to try this first.

Car Restoration How-To: Cutting Automotive Safety Glass

Perry
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Old 07-22-2012, 12:15 AM   #17
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Actually my "stack" windows (I understand "stack" to refer to the skinny windows below the larger operable windows.) are single pane...? I took one of the VV out. Sorry I didn't get pics ready yet. I broke the exterior pane; that means the interior pane has a different radius of curve... I'm goin to just caulk it up and trust the caulk since a new window is 6wks out.

I tried the burglar approach today and definitely think that is the way to go. Taped over the interior pane with clear duct tape, gave a coupla hard taps with a chisel, and whamo... I can now see out that window.
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