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Seitz Window Resealing - help please


Rowan Lee

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One of the Seitz windows on our van is leaking along the top edge and I am thinking of tackling this myself by removing the window and resealing it. It can't be that difficult I tell myself, but obviously I don't want to start it and then find out the problems. I can see that I need to remove the screw covers on the inside and unscrew the two halves, i.e. the inner and outer frame. Then presumably it is just (ha!) a matter of separating them from the van walls and cleaning them up before replacing them. I have read the relevant bits in John Wickersham's Motorcaravan Manual and also his article on sealants (MMM June 2005). My main questions are: When I remove the internal frame which contains the flyscreen and blind, is it all likely to fall apart? Will I have trouble getting it all back together and working smoothly? The strip sealant John recommends comes in different widths. Can I tell what width I need before I remove the window? Am I likely to have difficulty realigning the two halves when I come to putting them back? I suppose it depends a bit on how tight a fit the opening is in the van wall. Having struggled to get a cat flap right (not on the van of course), this bit worries me. Are there any other pitfalls that I haven't foreseen? Would I be better just adding a bead of sealant round the outside in the short term to see if this solves the problem? Any advice would be very gratefully received.
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Hi Rowan. I had the same problem with our old Autostratus where both side windows started letting in water. As a temporary measure I ran a bead of sealant around the edges and this lasted the remaining three years we had it. Worth a try before you take out the complete window. Howard.
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If you do as you and Howard suggest, make sure you use a waterproof silicone sealant suitable for bathrooms and not just a water resistant one. It should also have fungicides in the formulation to prevent build-up of mould, etc., in wet weather. Under no circumstances use sealants such as Sikaflex which are also extremely powerful glues and would therefore prevent you taking the window apart at a future date.
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Or you could run Copydex round it from a syringe, it's liquid latex. Or you cold use that Captain Tolleys creaping crack cure stuff as it's a thinner version of Latex only a lot dearer. It will find leaks and when set by evaporisation will seal a leak as long as it's not very big. You must keep water of it until it sets or it will get washed out of the crack. HTH.
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