Window skinning with an overhang?

[Diesel Dan]

I'm probably going to be skinning about three windows on each side of my bus. I'm not sure if this picture illustrates the situation, but I don't see how I can attach the sheet metal to the upper side of the window since the overhang prevents a drill from getting to that part. What you can't see in this picture is that the yellow frame continues all the way around the window, including the top above the aluminum window frame that you can see. There is about an inch of overhang. I don't think I can drill at that angle. How have other people handled this situation?

[Diesel Dan]

I don't know what mine looks like on the inside, since I haven't removed the wiring covers yet. I'll take a peek under there and see what I can see. Or maybe a welder could get up in there from the outside? But then again, I wonder if I just shove the sheet metal up in there real tight and caulk the hell out of it, maybe I won't have any problems. I mean, how much water is going to get up there anyway?

[kamoo]

I have a Thomas body and ran a bead of 3M 5200 along the top edge (and every point the steel contacts) which is a marine adhesive/sealant. I only screwed it into a few places. It has been down the road many times now and have had no problems.

[Elliot Naess]

"Show it up there and hope for the best", is how I did Millicent. But the result was a lot of rattling sheet metal. If I had it to do over, I would drill out the row of rivets above the windows, slide the new skin in between, and install new rivets.

Of course, I cannot say for sure that this would be a good idea on a Thomas, since mine is a Blue Bird. But "show it up there" turned out poorly for me.

[Sojakai]

I was going to go with Elliot's idea.

...Remove the rivits over (and under) the windows you wish to skin, shove the metal under and seal it with tar or something, rivit it back down. Leave the bottem out and seal and rivit it over the bottem side skin. Maybe have a little extra metal on the ends of the skin to fold into place like the frame covers between the windows (probably need to take those off when skinning anyways, not sure).

[Diesel Dan]

In my case, that would be about 20 rivets per window. And I assume the angle grinder is the only way to get those rivets out? They have rounded heads, so I don't think I'd be able to get a drill to center. Even if I could drill them, some would spin and require grinding anyway. And then the grinder would damage the sheet metal around the rivets. Am I making too much of this? It just sounds like I'm going to make a mess of the area.

[Elliot Naess]

I have had pretty good luck drilling out rivets with the DeWalt Pilot Point bits. Their ability to start cutting where you put it, even on a rivet head, is impressive. Sure, some rivets will spin, but by then you have usually reached deep enough with the drill that you can sheer the head off with a chisel.

Replace with high quality steel rivets from a commercial fastener store, and their appropriate tool. Nothing from your local hardware store or big box! "Consumer" rivets are for little old ladies to assemble Christmas decorations.

[Diesel Dan]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

Replace with high quality steel rivets from a commercial fastener store, and their appropriate tool. Nothing from your local hardware store or big box! "Consumer" rivets are for little old ladies to assemble Christmas decorations.

Does that mean I can justify buying another new tool? Yay! Fastenal here I come!

[Diesel Dan]

Yeah Smitty I'll definitely pull a window before making a decision. Your method of using a 90 degree ledge would probably be feasible, except that I'd probably have to skin the windows individually instead of all three with one piece of sheet metal. (I'm going to be doing 3 windows on each side BTW...). I think it will look cleaner with fewer seams, even though I might end up using the same number of rivets. Plus, fewer seams means fewer opportunities for leaks.