On 4/10/2012 11:17 AM, Charlie Burke wrote:
>
> When they built my coach they caulked the skylight down and used screws
> with washers to anchor it.
> As the skylight plastic aged and life happened the plastic around the
> screw heads fractured and separated. For all intents and purposes in
> some areas the only thing holding the skylight on was the caulk.
>
>
When I was in Teton National Park...well... here's an excerpt from my
journal....
"What a day!!!
It started out...well, I stepped out of the trailer to load stuff into
the truck for take off from Teton NP campground.... I shut the door and
put the stuff in the truck and went to open the trailer door and it was
locked!!! GAACK! All sets of keys were in the trailer. It just
diabolically locked itself )c: Don went to the ranger station to get a
locksmith and I decided to continue with my routine. I dumped my grey
tank and decided to hook up. I backed into the hitch, stepped out of the
truck and twisted my ankle so hard I went down. Jeez. The ankle started
to swell immediately. Don came back and got me some ice (from his
trailer) and the locksmith came. She couldn't jimmy the lock and
announced she would have to break a window. Not my window! My cats were
in there! So they went on the roof and took off the skylight...Don
dropped in and opened the door. I was sitting on the ground with ice on
my now huge ankle. Paid the lady $40.00...
She told me the skylight was only being held on by the putty stuff, the
caulking. The plastic around the screws had all broken off... I'll have
to get a new one. Grrr..."
So... I ordered a new skylight, from Charlie actually as he was still
the service manager at the Boise Airstream dealer....
Now... for the rest of the story.... The door locked on June 14.......
FF to October 9th.....
Well, I was going to take two days to drive from Tucumcari to
Lubbock..... but as I was cruising along I-40 at 70 mph my skylight flew
off the roof. (c: Don told me on the CB. "Did it hit you?" I inquired.
"Nope, it went into the median...."
<sigh> Well, as it's so cold out I knew the critters and I were not
going to be comfortable with a gaping hole in the roof so we plowed on
to Lubbock. I sent Don to the KOA to reserve us spaces and I went to
Billy Sims..... I threw myself on their mercy and they inserted the new
skylight I had been toting along in the back of the truck. I was waiting
to install it til after I got past the hail country."
So, the moral of this little tale is both the screws and the caulk are
important. When Don took it off to drop into the trailer, he screwed it
back on.... but no caulk....
Hunter
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