Sealing Shasta front side windows

The Shasta side window design leaves a lot to be desired. The flexible, .028" aluminum side skin was never designed to be a structural framing material.

A much better solution to the original poor Shasta design is to build a new aluminum "T" frame to hold the glass. One place you can purchase the aluminum "T" molding is from So. Cal. Teardrops in various widths and offsets. I like So. Cal. Teardrops mainly because they are close enough to me for "will call" orders to save on shipping and damaged parts. The smaller widths of aluminum can be metal shaped into radius's as small as 4" without annealing (reducing the hardness) the metal. The "T" molding lip gets screwed to the wall framing, the flat head screws are countersunk, and the glass is "glued into the aluminum "T" lip, just like any modern window. I use TremPro 635 sealant to glue the glass into the aluminum. Use a single edge razor blade and some acetone after it dries for a day or two. If you try to clean it up while it's still wet, it's a mess. The TremPro 635 stays flexible after it dries.

The real problem with the Shasta design is that they combined the poor glass mounting method with their very flexible 3/4" thick wood wall framing. You might improve the seal with your new retainer strips, but you still have a flexible wall frame and flexible aluminum skin moving against the ridged glass which I believe will still cause trouble.

You could do the "T" molding using two different methods depending on if you are replacing the side skins or not.

If replacing the side skins, build the new aluminum frames "as one piece" with 4" rounded corners. You need to make both a male buck and a female buck of the exact window frame opening. You likely would need to make bucks for each side because the openings are seldom "exactly the same". You will use these custom-made bucks to bend and shape the new aluminum molding to exactly fit your trailers window openings. You want your new aluminum window frames to fit tightly into the wall framing. The rounded corners will require some framing work in the corners, and obviously require new skin cut into the rounded corner shape. I have built this version of the new "T" frames and used "no welding", just position the butt seam at the bottom of the frame. I know of one Shasta currently being rebuilt with this new window frame design in No. California.

If you plan to still use the original skin with square/rectangle corners, you could do the new frames with straight pieces and mitered corners. The corners would require TIG welding. I have used the Aluminum Solder on my Spartan Air-o-Lite window repairs, but it is marginal in strength for a butt joint with thin material.

When done, make exact metal templates of the glass you need cut to fit your trailer. It's not hard to cut rounded corner glass. You can buy a couple of extra pieces at ACE and practice and still be cheaper than the $10/corner my glass shop charges.

Think "outside the box", there are better ways of doing repairs.

John Palmer

Screen spline comes in lots of different diameters.  Just take your caliper to the hardware store and measure.  You can likely find something that will serve your size needs, but all the screen splines I have seen are pretty stiff being plastic they do not have much compression.  You might want to try a real auto parts store, not many "real" auto parts stores are left today.  You need to find one with a grey hair guy behind the counter and ask him for Vacuum hose.  It comes in lots of diameters and is compliant so it could be pressed into your void.  Just make certain you don't buy the stuff with threads inside; you want the cheap stuff so it will compress.

John Palmer

Well this whole thing didn't work out very well. After trying both fuel line hose and screen spline on the street side window, the tightness of the seal against the window in the corners was worse than before. Adding more pressure to the inside just bent the siding out away from the frame and away from the window in the corners. Now I have to remove the wood strips and the window again so I can bend the siding back.

In the process I ruined the inside aluminum trim so I'll also have to make new trim for that window again. I should have just left it the way it was.

Live and learn I guesss.

Thanks for your reply vikx. I almost understand but have a few questions.

In step 1, what is the reason for the silicone? Do you smear it only on the bottom? Is it to waterproof the wood or perhaps to cushion the glass? Am I correct in assuming you let it cure before installing the glass?

In step 4, if the skin is loose, how do I know how far in to push the sticks against the glass? should the outside of the glass be flush with the outside of the framing? Also, how do you temporarily attach the sticks so you can adjust them later. I was using a brad nailer that doesn't allow any adjustment.

Sorry for all the questions; apparently I'm easy to confuse!