We liked our WeatherTech Wind & Rain Deflectors on our Eurovan Camper, and found them to lower the wind noise when the windows are down. We're giving them a try on the Sprinter from EuroCampers.com.
26-Oct-2021
Showing posts with label windows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label windows. Show all posts
Stronger Magnets for Privacy Screens
After 4 years, I've gotten tired of dealing with the weak magnets on Winnebago's front privacy screens. I decided to try adding some bigger and stronger magnets to the screens, and attached them with black Flex Tape. First impressions are that they work better now, but I'll be trying them out for 6 months or so to see if they work and to figure out how they can be improved.
26-Oct-2021
Cabin Vents for Front Windows
The cabin can get extremely hot and airless, so I've looked for a few ways to securely vent that area. I've recently gotten some Overland Screens for the van, and they seem to work well, so far.
Note: I previously tried these and decided to not continue using them - - too much hassle to install and remove.
17-May-2021
Stabilizing the Window on the Sliding Door
Many Revel owners have noticed that there is excessive rattling and instability in the large window in the sliding door. This is primarily because the stabilization ribs for the door have been removed by Winnebago to make room for the window, leaving the window attached ONLY to the thin metal skin on the door. The red lines, below, show where the support ribs were.
In order to improve this, I followed examples from Facebook Revel members Ralph Hill and Jason Vigil to create structural ribs that connect the window to the structural supports in the door. This is an illustrated guide for doing that.
Remove the plastic end caps from the window blind frame and remove screws behind them.
You may need to use an offset screwdriver to access the lower right corner.
Remove the screws from the four inner corners of the window blind.
The angular cut shown below is to accommodate the grey plastic panel when it is reinstalled.
Repeatedly making small cuts and testing the fitment resulted in a tight, solid fit.
I used a black marker to determine where the screws would attach to the window, and drilled them out with a hand drill. I used 5 screws per window.
Yielding this as the final product. Time for installation.
Note that the tolerances are fairly small. There was some concern about mating steel and aluminum, resulting in Galvanic corrosion. However, my neighbor happens to be a metallurgist, and he told me, "If you're dealing with mild steel (not stainless steel), then it's no problem. Aluminum and mild steel are very close on the Galvanic scale."
In order to improve this, I followed examples from Facebook Revel members Ralph Hill and Jason Vigil to create structural ribs that connect the window to the structural supports in the door. This is an illustrated guide for doing that.
- Time: 3 hours
- Cost: $25
- Tools: Philips screwdriver, hacksaw, drill
- Materials: Angle aluminum (see below), silicone glue, 10 wood screws
Remove the plastic end caps from the window blind frame and remove screws behind them.
You may need to use an offset screwdriver to access the lower right corner.
Remove the screws from the four inner corners of the window blind.
Remove the 4 screws holding the grey plastic panel to the door frame.
I bought 2 pieces of angle aluminum shown below.
I measured approximate lengths of 26.5" and 25.5" for the front and rear ribs, and cut the aluminum to fit. After repeated placements and adjustments, I was able to cut each of the grooves shown here with a simple hacksaw.
The angular cut shown below is to accommodate the grey plastic panel when it is reinstalled.
Repeatedly making small cuts and testing the fitment resulted in a tight, solid fit.
I used a black marker to determine where the screws would attach to the window, and drilled them out with a hand drill. I used 5 screws per window.
Yielding this as the final product. Time for installation.
Following others' suggestions, I applied a bead of silicone glue between the window frame and the aluminum support.
After mating the aluminum support to the window frame, I put 5 screws in each support, giving the final result here.
Note that the tolerances are fairly small. There was some concern about mating steel and aluminum, resulting in Galvanic corrosion. However, my neighbor happens to be a metallurgist, and he told me, "If you're dealing with mild steel (not stainless steel), then it's no problem. Aluminum and mild steel are very close on the Galvanic scale."
Jul-1-2020
Bug Screens for the Cab Windows
Sometimes it gets too hot in the front seats when we're parked at camp, so I wanted to find a way to get some ventilation through the cab without letting bugs in. The horribly named Skreenz offers a 'screened pouch' that you can drop over your door, allowing you to open the front windows without bugs entering. They also have a velcro drawstring to tighten the screens around the mirrors, along with magnets to keep the screens from moving around. I haven't found either of them to be necessary, so far.
They're a somewhat expensive addition to the van, and I don't use them all the time, but on a hot day in the front seats at camp, they can be pretty handy.
NOTE: I discontinued using these screens in lieu of a simpler vent found here.
May-17-2020
They're a somewhat expensive addition to the van, and I don't use them all the time, but on a hot day in the front seats at camp, they can be pretty handy.
NOTE: I discontinued using these screens in lieu of a simpler vent found here.
May-17-2020
Rear Window Shade Straps
I got tired of removing the rear shades and folding them up everyday, so I bought a couple of simple velcro cinch straps and installed them as you see here. I find it faster and a bit easier. The straps are 14" Cinch Straps from West Marine.
Fixing the Window Rattle in the Sliding Door
Ralph Hill, a member of the Revel Facebook group, has developed a fix for the rattling window in the sliding door. He wrote up all the details, and I'm posting it here with his kind permission.
For me, the noise in the sliding door is mostly rattling. I found three issues:
- The body panel the window is mounted in is not stiff enough—the window tends to flop in and out.
- The grey interior trim piece slaps agains the metal of the door at the edges. Mostly at the front, bottom and back. The top is not much of a problem, probably because the structure for the door is closer to the window at the top.
- The grey interior trim piece slaps against the frame for the window interior screen, mostly at the top.
The window is mounted to the skin of the door, not the frame. There are two stiffeners supporting this part of the skin that must be removed to install the window. After the window is installed the mass to be supported is increased because the window is heavier than the piece of skin that is cut out. At the same time, stiffeners are removed making the panel less stiff. This is made worse by the grey interior trim. It is attached only to the window and not to the door directly. Thus, even more mass is supported by the skin.
To stiffen the mounting of the window, I made four brackets, one for each corner of the window. These brackets connect the window to the the structure of the door. They are made from some scraps of softwood that I had. Each piece is approximately 1” x 3/4” x 7 1/2”. (This size is not necessarily the best—it is what I had lying around). I cut a thin groove in the end of the brackets with a hack saw. The structural metal of the door fits into the groove. The brackets are shaped to clear the grey plastic trim and are attached to the wooden frame around the window with screws and silicone adhesive. The brackets do not touch the skin.
There are flat metal corner brackets that attach to the wooden frame around the window. These did not have every screw hole populated. I added a screw in every hole I felt I could safely add a screw. I pre-drilled the wood because it is brittle and I did not want to risk cracking it. I hope that by adding more screws I made things l little stiffer and stronger.
To stop the gray plastic trim from slapping the metal I decided that it had to be screwed to the frame of the door. I could not find a way to do this across the top, but I could on the three other edges. I glued small pieces of 1/4” plywood to the metal frame with epoxy gel. Then I transferred the locations of the wood to the gray plastic trim using reference marks on tape attached to the door. I pre-drilled the grey plastic trim. Then I mounted the grey plastic trim and used #6 x 3/8” pan head screws to screw through the grey plastic trim and into the plywood pieces. I predrilled the plywood to reduce the risk of splitting it.
Screwing the grey plastic trim in this way does two things:
- It makes it impossible for the trim to slap against the metal.
- It attaches the trim to the frame of the door helping it stiffen the window. Thus, the trim is part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.
Across the top, where I could not screw the grey plastic trim to anything, I placed a strip of 3/16” thick grey foam weather stripping against the structural metal. The grey plastic trim might be able to slap against this foam, but that will not make much noise. (This weather stripping can be seen in both the second and third photo).
I added 3/8” grey foam weather stripping to the back of the grey plastic trim across the top and bottom of the window opening, and 3/16” thick grey foam weather stripping on the sides. This is to try to press the trim out against the frame for the window covering. This was not quite enough, on the top I had to add a small piece of 3/16” on top of the 3/8” in the middle. Finally, I put a small piece of anti-rattle felt on the grey plastic trim piece where it touches the top middle of the frame for the window covering.
Overall, the structure is much stiffer. When you slam the door closed the window does not flop around. It hardly moves. I have to do a serious test on some crappy gravel roads. Once that test is passed, I will add some insulation (probably Thinsulate) between the grey plastic trim and the door skin.
Window Rattle!
The window on the sliding door of the first 2018 Revels is notorious for irritating rattles. Winnebago apparently has a fix for this, and is shipping new vehicles with that fix, but since mine is one of the earliest ones, I needed to take matters into my own hands.
The primary, most irritating rattle is due to this silver flexible magnet. It is a little loose in the privacy screen (top and bottom), and chatters as you roll down the road. I used my fingers to pull the magnet out of the channel - - it remained anchored on each end, and I didn't mess with that.
Without doing much research, I used this stuff, and cut a small hole on the application tip so I could get a small stream of glue coming out.
I just filled the channel up with the glue, and didn't worry too much about overflow - - it cleaned up very easily. I can confirm that it killed the rattle DEAD.
The primary, most irritating rattle is due to this silver flexible magnet. It is a little loose in the privacy screen (top and bottom), and chatters as you roll down the road. I used my fingers to pull the magnet out of the channel - - it remained anchored on each end, and I didn't mess with that.
Without doing much research, I used this stuff, and cut a small hole on the application tip so I could get a small stream of glue coming out.
I just filled the channel up with the glue, and didn't worry too much about overflow - - it cleaned up very easily. I can confirm that it killed the rattle DEAD.
Window Tinting
The Sprinter has big windows, and people in the front seats can really get blasted by the sun. As a result, we decided to tint the front side windows, especially due to all the UV we were absorbing. Here is the ‘before’ picture.
Here is the ‘after’ picture. It’s a good match with the Dometic windows, perhaps better than this picture would indicate. We used SolarGard Supreme High Performance 20% tint, which blocks 99% of UV-A and UV-B, and has about a 35% heat reduction. The funny thing is that the windows don’t seem particularly dark or tinted from inside the vehicle, so I think it was successful. (Note: different states have different laws on this, and in California, we may be in violation of the code. Something to keep in mind...)
Here is the ‘after’ picture. It’s a good match with the Dometic windows, perhaps better than this picture would indicate. We used SolarGard Supreme High Performance 20% tint, which blocks 99% of UV-A and UV-B, and has about a 35% heat reduction. The funny thing is that the windows don’t seem particularly dark or tinted from inside the vehicle, so I think it was successful. (Note: different states have different laws on this, and in California, we may be in violation of the code. Something to keep in mind...)
Privacy Screen Alternatives
The shades that ship with the Revel (black bag on left) are very nice, and provide excellent insulation for cold-weather camping. However, they are big, thick, heavy, cumbersome, and the windshield shade in particular is somewhat of a bear to wrestle with. They also take up a fair amount of storage space, and weigh about 10 pounds or so. It may be perfect for winter, but do I really want to carry such a big, bulky screen for the other 3 seasons?
While looking for a substitute windshield shade that is smaller, lighter, and quick to install, I came upon this $14 silver gem on Amazon. So much smaller and lighter (frisbee-sized, about 4 ounces), but provides no insulation. So maybe it’s a 3-season shade...
It installs in about 5-10 seconds, and is almost totally opaque when viewed at night.
Basically a perfect fit. We may put a few little velcro spots up in the corners, but otherwise, instant privacy that can be stored in a little pocket. Kind of loving it.
If this is coupled with the Remis privacy screens for driver and passenger (see http://a.co/fjYDAV6), then we may have an extremely fast and almost zero-storage privacy solution for the Revel.
While looking for a substitute windshield shade that is smaller, lighter, and quick to install, I came upon this $14 silver gem on Amazon. So much smaller and lighter (frisbee-sized, about 4 ounces), but provides no insulation. So maybe it’s a 3-season shade...
It installs in about 5-10 seconds, and is almost totally opaque when viewed at night.
$14 on Amazon.
Basically a perfect fit. We may put a few little velcro spots up in the corners, but otherwise, instant privacy that can be stored in a little pocket. Kind of loving it.
If this is coupled with the Remis privacy screens for driver and passenger (see http://a.co/fjYDAV6), then we may have an extremely fast and almost zero-storage privacy solution for the Revel.
Update 2020
I've found over the past 18 months that this is much easier for one person to use if you put a small patch of velcro in the upper corners of the windshield and on the shade itself. Just attach the upper corners with velcro, then pull the visors down and adjust appropriately. I used VHB tape on the plastic trim to ensure that the velcro isn't going anywhere.
Tip: Front Privacy Screens
There are no instructions for the window shades, so I’m here to tell you that it is WHITE SIDE OUT. The magnets are oriented maximally for that configuration. Also, open the door to put the shades on. They readily stick to the frame, then just close the door.
White side out!
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