Double glazed cab windows (1 Viewer)

[funflair]

Well! On the way to the February NEC show, Lyn my wife was driving our camper and I was driving the Van Bitz exhibition unit. A stone flew up and chipped the windscreen on the camper. The chip rapidly went to a crack. The screen should be being replaced, finally in a couple of weeks at a cost of £9,200.00 Our insurance excess is £1000

As for the blown side window, our friends camper was a couple of months out of warranty and the drivers side double glazed unit has condensation in, in exactly the wrong place, as it was in the line of vision to look in the "wing" mirror. A replacement was a pi55 take price wise (Top Trade Tip here:- When the price is a pi55 take, it normally means that the dealer can't be arsed or doesn't know what to do)

The window was removed, and heavy duty plastic and gaffa tape made the aperture waterproof. The double glazed unit was removed from the frame very easily on laying flat on a table. The double glazed unit was taken to a local double glazing company, who kept it overnight and it was collected the next day, having been spilt, cleaned and re-sealed for the Princely sum of £25

Re assembling was a doddle and nearly a Grand was saved!

Thats the sensible way to do it Eddie.

I ran about for a couple of weeks with a bit of cut to shape perspex in the hole while new ones were made to replace the broken one still less that £100 though.

Martin

 

[funflair]

Qoute edited

I am just trying to explain how cheap quality double/triple glazing is compared to the price dealers charge to replace a motorhome window. It stinks. Someone is making a killing, that's the bottom line.

Its all middle men and mark up, in my experience everybody wants to double the price when they handle anything, the motorhome windows might leave the factory at £300, the MH factory would want at least £600 plus delivery, the dealer in the UK is going to want £1,200 plus covering the delivery then a few hundred quid to fit +VAT and we are soon up to £2k.

We had this years ago when we made carbon fibre tax disc holder for motorbikes (tax disc remember them) we made the carbon sheet CNC machined to shape, cut a groove for 'O'ring, cut the clear perspex for the lens assembled with Stainless steel bolts and packed in the customer packaging all for £3.80 each if I remember correctly, he sold them for £8.00 to a motoring superstore who wanted to charge £16.00 plus vat, the customer then had the B---dy cheek to come back to us and say WE were too expensive and if we couldn't drop the price he would get them from China, he said I know they are not as good but I can make more money.

Martin

 

[funflair]

Yes I'm also sceptical, but have emailed them and will report the response. One of my fixed panels has got a small amount.

What do you think causes it Martin?

It' always the fixed panel that goes Jon, when ours came out it was just the bottom edge of the panel that had failed, the seal looked like it had perished and cracked our drain slots were clear so it was not sat in water with us but who knows what happened before we got it, then one side had failed when we bought it but didn't notice in the winter as it shows worse in the summer/sun.

When I showed the old panel to the guy to make the new ones he said it was an old sealing technique and they now use hot help adhesive so we should have no more problems

Martin

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[funflair]

I wouldn't have them again Martin by choice, but who knows, in a second hand van you don't have the choice sometimes.

I would be interested to see some comparisons done between the double glazed ones they fit in motorhomes and quality 10mm laminated glass.

I think that Jock @JockandRita has a bit of 10mm laminated in one side of his so he is the guy to give us a direct comparison

Martin

 

[normanandsue]

I dont know what you mean by "cut them out" the frames themselves SHOULD be fitted to the van with non setting mastic so you just remove all the screws from the inside and the frame comes away, now if some plonker had refitted the frame with sikoflex or similar adhesive that would involve a bit more work and could be described as "cutting them out".

Martin

Exactly what I said they took a jigsaw to the frames and cut them other as they were bonded to the vehicle. I stood and watched as they did it. The window on my model was a sealed unit and was replaced by a sealed unit.

 

[funflair]

Exactly what I said they took a jigsaw to the frames and cut them other as they were bonded to the vehicle. I stood and watched as they did it. The window on my model was a sealed unit and was replaced by a sealed unit.

Wow that sounds savage! I guess they put it back with non setting mastic.

Martin

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[CazPaul]

Wow that sounds savage! I guess they put it back with non setting mastic.

Martin

Wow I,m amazed, how you can get them out with a jigsaw, surely you would damage the surrounding bodywork?