Compact family camper Build - Always something...

[AlgoDan]

Congrats on your first trip out, and also a great looking unit you have. Great build

[PKCSPT]

Love the looks of that teardrop. Looks great on the road

[dales133]

The trailer wiring on my land crusier is a bit like that, I've rewired the plug a bunch of times but the wires brittle and just breaks off

[ryuandwings]

Oops, sorry guy, I had missed some of you comments.

Thank you very much.

[ryuandwings]

Well, we just got back from our early summer trip.
This was not a camping trip, but took the trailer to show it to our friends in Chicago and Michigan. It was 1345 miles of mostly interstate loop through TN, KY, Il, MI and IN.

Good news is that it towed great on Interstate for the long trips.
Bad news is something happened to the window on the passenger side and top glass is broken.
It happened somewhere between Tennessee and Chicago and I did not notice until I got to Chicago.
Since it is on the passenger side, I assume rock flew off semi or something when I was passing. I hope this is a freak accident and I just got unlucky...

I will post a photo of it when I get home tonight.

[KCStudly]

A little bad luck can't ruin a good trip; I'm glad you had a chance to show off your hard work; well earned pride.

I hope the window break wasn't a rock thrown up by your own TV. Maybe kicked up in a turn or ricocheted back off the trailer fender? If so, maybe mud flaps or a smaller version of those clip on curtain things you see the 5th wheel guys using would help; something removable that you don't have to look at when you aren't towing. The Aussies have a bunch of rock protection ideas, too, maybe look into those.

[ryuandwings]

A little bad luck can't ruin a good trip; I'm glad you had a chance to show off your hard work; well earned pride.

I hope the window break wasn't a rock thrown up by your own TV. Maybe kicked up in a turn or ricocheted back off the trailer fender? If so, maybe mud flaps or a smaller version of those clip on curtain things you see the 5th wheel guys using would help; something removable that you don't have to look at when you aren't towing. The Aussies have a bunch of rock protection ideas, too, maybe look into those.

Well, I did not think about it coming from the TV.
I will investigate a little more to see if I can spot any bounce marks.

[ryuandwings]

Here are the photos of the broken window.

I had to tape it up so it wouldn't fly off while driving down the interstate.


You can see how it shattered into thousand pieces and edge pieces coming off.


This is how it looked before.


I visited local glass shop to see what they can do to fix.
They told me they would take a pattern from the unbroken side and make a matching glass (how matching? I have no idea...)
Since this is a frameless window, they think it is held by urethane adhesive. I guess they will know when they remove the broken glass.

[dales133]

Worst luck dude, sounds like it can be fixed without to much drama though

[ryuandwings]

Worst luck dude, sounds like it can be fixed without to much drama though

I'm getting a lot of repair practice.

[KCStudly]

So it looks like it took a stone on the edge of the glass?

Those windows look similar to mine, except they are larger. If they are Heir, I believe they are intended to be flush mounted, or at least have the capability to be as there is no frame or seal around the outside edge of the glass. It was a lot more work and I had to make a router template to make another router template to cut the recesses in my doors, but after seeing this I am feeling that it was worth it.

Let's hope that you just got unlucky the first time out and that it is not a recurring problem.

[ryuandwings]

So it looks like it took a stone on the edge of the glass?

Those windows look similar to mine, except they are larger. If they are Heir, I believe they are intended to be flush mounted, or at least have the capability to be as there is no frame or seal around the outside edge of the glass. It was a lot more work and I had to make a router template to make another router template to cut the recesses in my doors, but after seeing this I am feeling that it was worth it.

Let's hope that you just got unlucky the first time out and that it is not a recurring problem.

A stone could have hit the edge of glass coming from front. If that was the case, it definitely is a freak accident. What is the chance of hitting it on the side of trailer.

Below is a photo of my window looking from the inside. Not the best quality, but you can see frame flange in red and glass behind it in blue.


The frame flange is flush against aluminum skin so the face of glass is outside of aluminum skin for about 3/8" or so. I thought about recessing the window into the door so that glass is flush with aluminum. But I opted not to do that due to the complexity of keeping it water tight with aluminum.

I sure hope I just got unlucky.

[M C Toyer]

From your photo it appears your window was tempered glass.

To replace tempered a new glass will have to be cut then sent out for the tempering as it unlikely a shop will have that capability. I suspect the cost will be considerably higher. They may offer an alternative of laminated safety glass or even Plexiglas that could be cut at the shop, but would probably not match and the Plexiglas is not a suitable option due to scratching.

Have you considered contacting the window manufacturer or vendor of the window to see if replacement glass is available off the shelf? Would probably save money and time and definitely avoid aggravation if the shop didn't get it right the first time. You could still use them to do the actual glass installation.

It might even be cheaper to get a complete new window.

[ryuandwings]

From your photo it appears your window was tempered glass.

To replace tempered a new glass will have to be cut then sent out for the tempering as it unlikely a shop will have that capability. I suspect the cost will be considerably higher. They may offer an alternative of laminated safety glass or even Plexiglas that could be cut at the shop, but would probably not match and the Plexiglas is not a suitable option due to scratching.

Have you considered contacting the window manufacturer or vendor of the window to see if replacement glass is available off the shelf? Would probably save money and time and definitely avoid aggravation if the shop didn't get it right the first time. You could still use them to do the actual glass installation.

It might even be cheaper to get a complete new window.

Yeah, I tried that and the manufacture only sell me whole unit. I would have to remove the whole window from the door to get the model number to give to the company.
I guess for the starter, I will talked to the local glass company to see how much they will charge me.

I thought about getting another unit, but since I got it from eBay, I can't find it now.