Windows...

[5gypsykings]

anyone leave the windows as-is and not cover?? How did that workout? Did you reseal them?

We are trying to do our bus as simple as possible with as little cash as possible.

Thanks for the feedback.

[NewSkewlHauler]

Well, since no one else has jumped in...

Our experience with our factory windows is that they suck. I'm not sure what we can do differently. I know that some of them have been resealed already, but there are tons of air leaks. In February, we were traveling in a blizzard across Nebraska. There were snow drifts inside the bus!!

We're really hoping to be able to replace them with better quality RV windows someday. I do however plan to use the bus windows in a horse trailer!

I realize that my comments probably don't help. But I didn't want you to think that no one cared! Best of luck.

Ben.

[John]

We left all of ours in. To us it seemed like losing the windows would lose the character of the bus. They leak air, but we have a nice wood stove and don't use air conditioning.

When we started our conversion, we took everything out including the plywood floor and all the windows. We repaired all of the rust and resealed the windows with caulk and new weather stripping. They don't leak any water whatsoever. During the winter, there was a draft of cold air so we covered all the windows with plastic (like you would in a regular house / except we did ours from the outside with greenhouse plastic) That was enough to keep us quite cozy with a wood stove. Since we don't use air conditioning it's not a big deal to let them leak during the summer. Again, it was a personal choice for style.

[John]

Originally Posted by Smitty

At a bare minimum, I'd pull and reseal them to prevent water leakage (alot easier to do it now then when your bus is full of stuff). Like John said, you can cover them in colder temps, plastic, or even rigid insulation cut to fit over some, and plastic over the others to allow you some light. I would want to know they were sealed good against water leaks.....my bus had basically no seals what-so-ever behind the frames when we pulled the windows out, it had to have leaked.

Smitty

When we did pull them out we found a lot of rust where water had dripped inside down below the window. That was the main reason to pull them out in the first place was to repair the rust and figure out where the water was coming in. I agree with Smitty, I would also not want to leave stock windows without any type of seal or other water prevention measures.

As an added bonus, we were able to relocate all of our special swing-out emergency windows in a row in the living room.

[Diesel Dan]

I skinned the window openings that were going to be covered by walls. Those are the ones I was most concerned about leaking since I would not be able to see the leak happening behind the wall, plus it would be harder to repair. I did have a couple leaks in windows I am leaving open and I just re-caulked without removing the windows. So far that solved the leaks.