- Feb 24, 2013
- 13,670
- 103,557
- Funster No
- 24,833
- MH
- Hymer S800
- Exp
- not long enough
This for some (most) of you may be obvious, but for someone who doesn't ‘do’ much on the repair front due to often making things worse, thought I would share this in the hope of helping others less inclined to do such things
our Hymer is getting quite old now, but it was the first of a new design and quite likely the winding mechanism on the skylights was used for so time and possibly still is
our winders have been a little stiff to turn at times and we have previously broken 2 of the flimsy plastic handles , thankfully now that I carry 2 spares we haven’t broken another
hopefully the design was improved just enough to prevent such breakages and we now have newer ones fitted
if you are still reading, what I have learnt is silicone spray is awesome
we had our MH cleaned a few weeks ago and I always lift the skylights so he can clean underneath. The main skylight over dining table would hardly move, took about 20 minutes of tiny moves to get it half open , just enough to reach under from above and investigate by touch from inside
the mechanism is ridiculously complicated, the handle is attached to this (I will explain photo later)
The handle turns the spindle, which then moves 2 cogs to move bars that lift the roof light, bit like mousetrap
my valeter reported that there were a few leaves around the cogs, cleared those but no difference . I then remembered we had WD40 and sprayed some from inside over cogs
no significant change but it did seem to close a little more easily , when away the other weekend it was virtually seized solid
I did then search other threads on here and discovered the cogs are plastic , and that the last thing you should do is spray them with WD40
back home and researched replacement skylights, which being Hymer are both complicated and expensive and mostly no longer available
found on eBay Brownhills selling just the mechanism in photo above, still not cheap, but in stock so ordered, delivered for total £98
I also bought a can of silicone spray, WD40 also sell that, but to avoid confusion at a future date I bought a different make. It arrived before the new part, I decided to give it a go and forced the handle to turn just enough to open the skylight and gave it a good spray, no obvious change in operation but it was forecast dry so left open to apply some more later
later became the next day, the new part had arrived and I went out to see how it would fit, tried the handle and it turned more easily than it had ever done
the silicone spray had seemingly reversed and damage I might have caused and fixed the original reluctance to turn . All others now sprayed and turn so smoothly
I do still have another problem to fix that from other threads I see is disappointingly common, the turning mechanism passes through a hole in the roof presumably with sealant under the plate that on mine has now failed, we get a trickle of water through the handle when the roof has standing water 
I am going to try just sealing the edges, but fear I might need to remove the bracket and seal underneath
but just for now I am going to wallow in the minor victory of fixing the winder the step is also going to get some later
our Hymer is getting quite old now, but it was the first of a new design and quite likely the winding mechanism on the skylights was used for so time and possibly still is
our winders have been a little stiff to turn at times and we have previously broken 2 of the flimsy plastic handles , thankfully now that I carry 2 spares we haven’t broken another
hopefully the design was improved just enough to prevent such breakages and we now have newer ones fitted if you are still reading, what I have learnt is silicone spray is awesome
we had our MH cleaned a few weeks ago and I always lift the skylights so he can clean underneath. The main skylight over dining table would hardly move, took about 20 minutes of tiny moves to get it half open , just enough to reach under from above and investigate by touch from inside
the mechanism is ridiculously complicated, the handle is attached to this (I will explain photo later)
The handle turns the spindle, which then moves 2 cogs to move bars that lift the roof light, bit like mousetrap
my valeter reported that there were a few leaves around the cogs, cleared those but no difference . I then remembered we had WD40 and sprayed some from inside over cogs
no significant change but it did seem to close a little more easily , when away the other weekend it was virtually seized solid
I did then search other threads on here and discovered the cogs are plastic , and that the last thing you should do is spray them with WD40
back home and researched replacement skylights, which being Hymer are both complicated and expensive and mostly no longer available
found on eBay Brownhills selling just the mechanism in photo above, still not cheap, but in stock so ordered, delivered for total £98
I also bought a can of silicone spray, WD40 also sell that, but to avoid confusion at a future date I bought a different make. It arrived before the new part, I decided to give it a go and forced the handle to turn just enough to open the skylight and gave it a good spray, no obvious change in operation but it was forecast dry so left open to apply some more later
later became the next day, the new part had arrived and I went out to see how it would fit, tried the handle and it turned more easily than it had ever done
the silicone spray had seemingly reversed and damage I might have caused and fixed the original reluctance to turn . All others now sprayed and turn so smoothly
I do still have another problem to fix that from other threads I see is disappointingly common
, the turning mechanism passes through a hole in the roof presumably with sealant under the plate that on mine has now failed, we get a trickle of water through the handle when the roof has standing water I am going to try just sealing the edges, but fear I might need to remove the bracket and seal underneathbut just for now I am going to wallow in the minor victory of fixing the winder
the step is also going to get some later
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