Water entry at front window

That's very interesting I'll keep an eye out havent had a problem to date. I've sure driven in some rain, seems like every time we go somewhere !!! One trip was so wet on the way home I swear some guy was loading animals two by two into a wooden boat on top of the Glasshouse Mountains ..... [smile] Rather than a fixed window for next van check out some of the perspex marine hatches that close with threaded wingnuts like a porthole ..... they certainly dont leak. Might be hard to protect them from damage as they would not have the protective cover like the front galaxy on the BT's. Just a thought .... Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

I know of another van who was having water come in by the wind driving it up under the front window and I think he fixed it by putting an aluminium strip across the front under the window to prevent the wind force hitting the window. The window catches can be adjusted a little so if it is coming in through the openable part of the window it should be able to be adjusted a bit tighter to stop the problem. Have you sent an e-mail to Steve to ask him about it? Brian

Have driven in rain a few times but have only had this problem once. I tried unsucessfully to find out where from but assumed from under the window forced in by the wind effect. Only happened after we had opened the front window but think last time it rained we didn't get any in.. Thaks for the advice, as usual guys. Would be interested in what Steve had to say. Regards Jeff

I had a closer look this morning at the front window and seals on my BT. It all comes back now. I remember when I first had the BT the black rubber window seals were sikaflexed to the window frame at the top. In my case over zealous use of the sika meant that the seals were glued down the frame a bit with the result that every time you opened the window the secondary seal was pulled from the channel the holds it. Surgical precision with a scalpel ( not too much blood letting) removed the sika enough to allow the seal to stay in the channel while opening and closing the windows. One was so imbedded that I had to slice the seal down about 10mm to stop it pulling out. From memory 3 or 4 had to be done. There are two sealing areas on the windows, the primary seal is a full seal with no reliefs and is formed by the insect screen rubber and the flat surface of the window frame. The secondary seal is formed by the rubber that is held captive by the channel in the window edge. There are two reliefs in the secondary seal that allows water out from between the primary and secondary seals. You can see this as two little deformities in the outer window edge frame. When the window is closed a thin steel rule goes easily up under the seal at these deformed areas. This is all meant to work with water coming in a downward direction. For water to come in it has to get passed both seals. It gets passed the secondary seal by way of water travelling up the face of the BT. Travelling at speed the rain/water hits the front of the BT and travels upwards because the front of the BT is sloped backwards like a windscreen. We have all seen water travel up a windscreen. Water gets in through the reliefs because the water is travelling in the opposite direction that the relief is meant to work. Water is now possibly in between the seals and it could get passed the primary seal by pressure being applied at the seal edge by the nature of travelling through the air at 80-100 k's. The whole front of the BT where the window is a high pressure area when travelling forwards. If the seal is a little off by way of not hard enough against the flat area or warped etc water at high pressure could pass. The other place it could get in between the two seals is the corners where the window meets the frame as this is where the seal ends and a mechanical joint is formed with the sika. It still has to get passed the primary seal though. I'm sure if you get a hose and spray it at these reliefs in an upward direction trying to simulate water hitting the front at 80-100kph in an upward direction water would get in through these reliefs. Easy to check ...spray water from a hose at the corners first ...open the window have a look. If no water in ... spray water from hose at the drain reliefs and check again if water in then I'd whack 100mm of gaffer tape on the frame covering the reliefs and try again. If water in then stops I'd whack some tape on before travelling if it looked like rain and take off when stopped for night or home. If water comes in the corners at the mechanical joint its pretty hard to stop that the primary seal has to be relied on then. Also ...making the primary seal do it job a little better at speed might be done by applying a silicone "o" ring grease to the seal itself or the flat edge of the window where it seals against. Have a quick check that the primary seal is in its channel before applying "o" ring lube. The primary seal works by being the window flat being held against the seal. The barbs of the locking tabs do this ...if they are worn the seal has less pressure against it. The barbs dont wear easily by the look of mine. Keep the primary seal area clean as anything across the seal like a hair etc can let water capillary in .... I cant see water getting in between the window frame and BT skin the sealing looks excellent on mine ...even the screws are done. Regards Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

Woops ! I forgot one other area ..... If you have a look at where the arms that push the window out go into the frame it has a slot machined into the frame to allow the arms to be there and do their job. If water was getting passed the secondary seal in the corners above this slot water could travel down and into the window slot ....it is now inside the van. The slot is between the primary and secondary seals so the primary seal wont stop water from reaching this slot. Once again shouldnt do it stationary ..... Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

Anthony, Thanks for your insight into the water leakage problem. We to have experienced this problem without finding the true fix. Our problem was water in front corner of van (near door) when stationary. Found that by making sure van was perfectly level front to back & side to side the problem was overcome, or so we thought. On a recent trip near Bundaberg, travelling in driving rain, water could be found on front bench, near sink/stove towards same side of van as before. No obvious point of entry. So now I off to check the seals and arms as you suggest. Thanks Rick & Leone Maverick2567

Mmmm ! A couple of typo's in the post but you get the drift..... In the second last paragraph of the first post it should read : The primary seal works by the window flat being held against the seal. not : The primary seal works by being the window flat being held against the seal. Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

I had a water leak through a Galaxy widow in a Supreme Getaway van. It turned out that the window was not at fault. Water travelled along the cladding overlap and found its way in through the window cavity. Recently i had to replace all the windows on my motorhome as they leaked like a sieve. I was unable to fit galaxy windows as the standard size was too small . I had a marine widow specialist make new one for my particular application. I was advised not to go for their port hole screw down type because they were more prone to leake. So i took their advice and went for sliders. Additional steps were taken to improve their wet weather performance. After carefull installation and on the first application of the garden hose water poured in from each window. Several trips back and forth to the supplier did not fix the problem. I finally had a good look myself and found water was leaking throught the aluminium extrusion joint. Liberal application of selant has fixed the problem - i think. Seems boats dont need to have leak proof windows. Vidas

We have now had the leaking front window problem as well. While travelling in East Gippsland yesterday it was raing very heavily at times and last night when we went to get into bed found that the pillows and curtain were quite wet on the passenger side around the front window. As then van has been stationary in a number of heavy rain storms without any problems, I can only assume that this water came in under wind pressure while driving. Unfortunately it had stopped raining by the time we noticed it. Brian

We also experenced this window leak when the van was new. Only happened when tarveling in the rain. Informed BT and they sent down a curved steel strip that attaches just under the front window. 2 years on and problem still solved. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL Adam.

Fair go Adam, it hasn't rained for two years!

Well at last I have pin pointed our water leak, and is NOT from wind forcing rain in under window. While staying at Motley's place in Lorne a couple of nights ago we had a lot of rain. When the van is parked at home the van is on a slight lean to the right, but at Motleys it was leaning to the left and the water that fell on the front of van then ran down to top of window and along the channel to the edge but I found that there is a fine hairline crack in the stickaflex sealing the top of the window and when the van is leaning to the left it allowed water to enter, but only when leaning to the left. A bit of duct tap has solved the problem until we can get back home and have BT repair it properly. It is very frustrating to have a leak that only appears under certain conditions. Brian

Well Brian I always thought that you had a slight leaning to the right.
Must say I'm, surprised that a short visit to Victoria would cause a leaning to the left though.
Still, those Mexicans can have influence at times.
(All of above given in lefity)

Regards
Turist

I cant wait for our first trip to Victoria. Apparently over 80% of the corners are left handed !! I must take extra right hand side tyres for the extra wear on the right ! The street directories must look funny with so many left hand corners ! Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ..Tow a Bushtracker