I spent the weekend taking out most of the bus windows. Man now that was a big job! (LOL I seem to say that with every part of this bus build lately!)
A couple of the windows were leaking and all of them had very old, deteriorating rubber seals that were coming away in the corners. Also, the windows are very stiff and hard to slide open. So I decided to take them all out to give them a good clean up and replace the seals.
The windows had clips that needed to be removed, but the main thing holding them in place was the sticky, black mastic sealant (same stuff they use to install windscreens). Cutting through all that so I could pry off the window was hard work and I broke quite a few knife blades in the process.
I had to get Dad to help pull the window away from the bus. I could possibly have done this myself if I had to, but the windows are quite heavy and two people is better. I can’t afford to break any of the glass, so didn’t want to risk it.
Once the window was out, it was relatively easy to unscrew the frame and pry the glass panels out. The windows were absolutely filthy, full of dirt, dead spiders, leaves and who knows what else. It’s no wonder they were leaking.
I’ve now taken out all of the windows except for the 4 small fixed ones at the very back. These are quite different to the others in terms of how they are installed so I need to think about what to do with them. I would like to completely remove them and replace them with aluminium composite panel which is lighter (and better for insulation compared to glass). My bathroom is going at the very back of the bus so it will mostly be built in over those windows anyway. But I’m not yet sure whether it is worth the work involved.
The next job I have to do now that all the frames are out is to clean them up, treat a tiny bit of surface rust on the bus where they were, and put the new seals in.
I also want to have a go at tinting the glass myself while it is out. Not sure how that is going to go LOL!