New Windows

[rideandfly]

7 hours ago, jd1923 said:

I hope for you that these windows fit into the roughout openings of your hull with an easy installation! I'm looking forward to reading the first window mod thread on our great Forum! 😂

Our previous camper had Dometic/Seitz awning style windows that could be opened during  light rain, really liked  those windows, but they were plexiglass.  Talked to Oliver about retrofitting an Oliver, but they are not ready to release information about retrofits, yet.  Just looking and learning for now. 🙂

 

 

Edited June 6 by rideandfly

[routlaw]

Perhaps I am beating a dead horse on this subject and thread but wanted to add a few things that might be of interest to those with Lippert 8800 series of windows. This past week I ordered 3 sample packs from Steele Rubber in NC which includes many if not all of their rubber weather stripping and glass sliding seals they manufacture. They arrived today. The samples seem to be well made, albeit very expensive for what they are. On my unit the outer most rubber w/s does not nor has it ever touched the sliding glass window and in fact misses the glass by a full 1/8th of an inch. Needless to say our windows were more like a sieve than a sealed window. Weeps holes do little to nothing to mitigate the incoming water during heavy rains. 

For those of you who need to replace their exterior rubber w/s for what ever reason the part # I have ordered is 70-4500-257 and this sample does indeed provide a relatively tight seal against the sliding window. This part also has a tighter fit in the channel, a good thing. No doubt the wrong w/s was installed on our windows given its rather loose fitting in addition to it not being wide enough to seal against the sliding window. Effectively the original does nothing at all to seal water.

Steele Rubber company has a huge amount and variety of gaskets and seals making it nearly impossible to determine the correct fit without the sample packs. They also produce a much different type of glider seal/track that appears to be better and less likely to allow further leakage into the window channels. The ones that came with these windows do nothing to prevent water from entering into the channels and dripping into the cabin. The part # for that item has conflicting information between the website and the sample pack ID's they sent. It is either 70-3577-58 or 70-3577-256 come in 8ft lengths and priced at nearly $49 for each length. The exterior w/s piece is sold by the foot at $7 per foot. 

In addition to the effort of sealing the windows I have also finally added gutters over the windows. I put this off for a long time mainly because I didn't have faith in these small channels being effective during a downpour. I also installed them a bit different than most by gently curving the ends diagonally away from the window. The sharp bend pointing toward the ground never made sense to me and also caulked above and under the J channel to provide a longer lasting seal, hopefully.

Thanks, hope this helps some others 

[rideandfly]

1 hour ago, routlaw said:

In addition to the effort of sealing the windows I have also finally added gutters over the windows. I put this off for a long time mainly because I didn't have faith in these small channels being effective during a downpour. I also installed them a bit different than most by gently curving the ends diagonally away from the window. The sharp bend pointing toward the ground never made sense to me and also caulked above and under the J channel to provide a longer lasting seal, hopefully.

 

Nice looking installation!

The previous owner of our 2015 LE2 also installed gutters, they divert loads of water, too!

 

 

 

[Steph and Dud B]

On 6/10/2026 at 8:23 PM, routlaw said:

the part # I have ordered is 70-4500-257

Is that white or black?

[Steph and Dud B]

I'm pretty diligent with our sliding windows, cleaning the tracks and drain holes regularly, but they let me down last night. We were away from the trailer when a heavy thunderstorm rolled in. Came home to my bed soaked. Found a drowned stink bug in the outer track. I think he blocked either the track or the drain hole. Fortunately, it's hot and sunny today and the mattress is on the picnic table to dry, but if it was a rainy week we'd have a problem getting things dry. That's the downside of these sliding windows.

[routlaw]

1 hour ago, Steph and Dud B said:

Is that white or black?

black

[routlaw]

1 hour ago, Steph and Dud B said:

I'm pretty diligent with our sliding windows, cleaning the tracks and drain holes regularly, but they let me down last night. We were away from the trailer when a heavy thunderstorm rolled in. Came home to my bed soaked. Found a drowned stink bug in the outer track. I think he blocked either the track or the drain hole. Fortunately, it's hot and sunny today and the mattress is on the picnic table to dry, but if it was a rainy week we'd have a problem getting things dry. That's the downside of these sliding windows.

Yeah I hear you on that. Likewise have also been fairly diligent about cleaning the windows as well. Doesn't matter this is a very flawed design and made somewhat worse by the fact the channels lean in the wrong direction for proper drainage. By that I mean the side of the Oliver rest at about 5-10º in the opposite direction (inward) that would allow the water to flow out of the weep holes adequately effectively backing up and filling both channels of the sliding window. With that in mind I have drilled larger weep holes in one experimental window. Two holes per weeping slit on either side. Also looking into a way of eliminating the natural water adhesion which prevents easy water flow from the channels. Pipe cleaners have not worked at all. 

Just this past week we ran into the same issue, new twin beds installed and no sooner than that and we received several days of rain. Mattresses and all were very wet, had to remove the entire enchilada to dry and mop up and this was after having cleaned the windows out thoroughly the day before. Because of this I am now in the process of re-engineering a better prevention system that hopefully will mitigate water intrusion to begin with. If this effort fails we will be buying other windows to install. Is it any wonder so many stick built trailers have rot issues? Its not because stick building is so inherently bad, after all most houses are made with sticks but the windows installed on the vast majority of these trailers are designed to absolutely allow water to flow into the trailers. 

Previously I ad considered installing window awnings on the Oliver but didn't like the idea of drilling holes into the outer shell and didn't particularly care for most of the fabrics offered with what products I found. 

[Steph and Dud B]

At least we finally got to try the dinette as a bed. Too small for me, but Steph was able to fit. Will be good for our grandson someday.

[Wayfinder]

@routlaw I may have missed it, but which weather stripping (gutter) material did you get and where did you order it from?  
 

My old gutters from 2021 gave out recently (no more sticky) and I need more. How much length did you order for the way you installed it?
 

I like your installation versus the way I did it years ago.
 

Thanks,

 

[routlaw]

I ordered 25 ft from Rec Pro which is more than needed for the windows but wanted extra in case I goofed up a length or two and thought I might be adding some to other areas which I have not done yet. I cut each length to 56 inches which provides just enough overhang past the window frame. Hopefully adding caulk both above and below the gutter and especially at the ends might help the product to last longer too. 

On a recent rainy night I noticed water spots on the underside of the gutter indicating the benefit of caulking below as well as above. The real test will come this winter though with the extreme temperature variations we receive here in SW Montana. This method of slightly bending the gutter away from the windows seems to be working very well from my observations so far. 

Should be receiving new glazing beads from Steele Rubber today and will report back on those once installed. 

Good luck with your re-install.

[routlaw]

Update on Lippert 8800 series repairs due to leaking. 

The new glazing beads from Steele Rubber products arrived late on Tuesday and I went to work on the first one right away. It became obvious right off the bat the application of silicone spray or equivalent lubricant would be needed due to the new rubber having lots of friction. Once siliconed the seals went in easily yet provided actual connection to the sliding window. The window does not slide as easily indicating good connection thus less water intrusion. Thats the good news. The not so good news is the windows channels still take on water but this is due to the weep holes facing 8º tilt upwards toward the sky due to the Oliver body shape. 

While installing the new weather stripping seals I also took the time to plug the channel where the fixed window is screwed into that channel preventing water from infiltrating this area. Using rope caulk I jammed both the top and bottom area of this potential place for water intrusion. I also discovered the small black plugs installed into the weep holes at the top of the frames DO NOT prevent water from entering into the top of the window and then flowing down through the vertical channels carrying dirt debris mud etc. The top part of those channels on all of our windows were very dirty and stained. Removed all four from one window and found them to be completely encrusted with dirt and debris. Rather than re-install I decided to caulk those 4 slits and will also do this to the remaining other two windows. 

I had hoped to completely eliminate any water intrusion but early efforts at re-designing weather stripping were an abysmal failure. Effectively the new glazing bead weather stripping will help but certainly not fix the issue entirely. With this in mind what I will do going forward is carry and smallish portable wet/dry vacuum along and clean out the weep holes using wet vacuum mode. I have tried this numerous times now and it works quite well. Just this morning after washing our awning which allowed some water to flow down the Oliver side and window and into the weeps holes I was able to vacuum some 2-3 oz of water from the curb side window. Struck me as quite a bit of water given that the window only got wet indirectly. But for now its a fix for a flawed design.

 

 

[jd1923]

2 hours ago, routlaw said:

Update on Lippert 8800 series repairs due to leaking.

Wondering did Lippert 8800 windows change through the years? The windows installed on hulls #70, #75 vs. our hull #113 and much newer hulls? I posted a couple pictures of ours for reference. I do see top vents on Rob's and Bill's windows that are not on mine!

Rob has leakage issues. Others do as well, but we do not. I'm thankful ours do not need repair, but just wondering what's different? Is it the top vents allowing water into the interior channels?

I replaced the outer rubber (only). Replaced the white surround with black, sourced from Pelland, if I remember correctly. There was a 1" gap on the old rubber, likely from shrinkage. I cut the replacement rubber to fill the gap and made it 1" longer, cramming the rubber into place on a warm day, knowing it will shrink again in time. This rubber seal protects the moving half of the window from rainwater.

I don't have time to handwash the Oliver except to pressure-wash when we return a dirty mess from boondocking. I'll hit the glass straight-on with 3000 PSI water and our pressure-washer is not a toy! Some dirt followed by a fast stream of water will pour out of the window lower weep holes. No water inside the hull ever in doing this a half dozen times. The first couple of times, I asked Chris to be inside, towel in hand, just in case. After twice taking this precaution, I don't bother anymore.

If ours were leaking, I would replace the entire window assembly if available. I took a look here and our sizes are not listed. Wonder if they make the 8800 windows to size. Nominal measurements on our hull are 48x18" on the three cabin windows, 36x20" on the rear and I did not measure the bathroom window. 

I understand it would be over $1000 to replace them all vs. the cost of seals but you'd have a new window with warranty. Or time to get an awning window if you prefer that style!

Lippert 8800 Series RV Window - Horizontal Slider | Lippert

Edited 12 hours ago by jd1923

[rideandfly]

We had two leaks coming out at the windows, but in both cases the source of the leak was above each window. Oliver sign on the rear window and street side exterior light over the dinette window were the causes of our leaks. It was a easy fix on the exterior light leak, but the Oliver Sign probably took 1 1/2 days to remove the sign, clean and reseal the sign.

Where we store Ollie, we have to tape the bottom window drains while stored, rubber plugs are installed in the top, or Mud Daubers will plug the bottom window drain channels. These 8800 windows with drains top & bottom could be reversed during installation for the window glass to open in the opposite direction.

Out of curiosity I contacted Lippert to see what they charge for Lippert frameless 3000 FV 48 X 18 with screen window assembly, they only come with black frames, Retail $986.95.  The interior black frame for this window cost Retail $44.95.

Download the flyer to see the 3000FV windows in the following link below 3000 windows.

https://corporate.lippert.com/products/rv/windows

I'm waiting to see what retrofits Oliver will be offering on the frameless windows, not in a hurry for now, just curious.. 

 

 

[jd1923]

26 minutes ago, rideandfly said:

Out of curiosity I contacted Lippert to see what they charge for Lippert frameless 3000 FV 48 X 18 with screen window assembly, they only come with black frames, Retail $986.95.

Wow! Select the 48x22" window on the Lippert website link I copied above, click Add to Cart, it comes to $230. This number seems very reasonable and what you were quoted for a custom 14x18" size seems outrageous!

I wrote above "over $1000 to replace them all" when I was looking at the $230 number. $987 each would not be a direction worth going.

BTW, ours are mounted in mirrored directions, left to right, moveable window to the rear, vents/weep holes always down. The outer frame must disconnect from the window assembly somehow to allow for this. Our windows are different from the time of hulls 70-75, to late 2015 when our 2016 model was built.

[rideandfly]

19 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

I wrote above "over $1000 to replace them all" when I was looking at the $230 number. $987 each would not be a direction worth going.

Guessing the 3000FV is so expensive because Oliver's 48X18 is much wider than their 3000FV maximum listed size of 36X30. It's going to be interesting to see how Oliver retrofits older trailers. 

https://corporate.lippert.com/products/rv/windows

 

[routlaw]

2 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Wondering did Lippert 8800 windows change through the years? The windows installed on hulls #70, #75 vs. our hull #113 and much newer hulls? I posted a couple pictures of ours for reference. I do see top vents on Rob's and Bill's windows that are not on mine!

It does appear they have made changes to these over the years and perhaps even more than what is readily apparent with the upside weep holes with black plugs that don't work for squat anyway. Have also looked for replacement 8800 series but they appear to be unobtanium anymore or at least in the size we need and I certainly would not want black frames. No way would I cough up $987 a piece for this flawed design, $230 maybe. 

The 300 FV series looks much more promising as replacements IMHO.

Regarding the 8800 series, anyone can take a garden hose to mimic even a light shower if they have the correct hose nozzle by shooting the water up gently toward the top of the camper allowing the water drain down with some water hitting the windows directly. One can actually watch the water flowing into the weep holes due to the 8º upward tilt. Or you can wait till the next shower put your raincoat on and do the same in real time with the same results as I have. The only way to fix this would be create a miniature awning or flashing over the weep holes though I am not sure how practical this would be, but it might solve the issue… sort of.

Amazed you can hit them with a pressure washer, not something I would ever attempt in their current state.

[routlaw]

7 minutes ago, rideandfly said:

Guessing the 3000FV is so expensive because Oliver's 48X18 is much wider than their 3000FV maximum listed size of 36X30. It's going to be interesting to see how Oliver retrofits older trailers. 

https://corporate.lippert.com/products/rv/windows

 

Perhaps I am reading the chart incorrectly but it appears you could order a 48x20 as the smallest vertical dimension. It probably wouldn't be too difficult to cut an inch on the top and bottom away from existing cabin to accommodate the slightly larger vertical size. 

[rideandfly]

2 hours ago, routlaw said:

Perhaps I am reading the chart incorrectly but it appears you could order a 48x20 as the smallest vertical dimension. It probably wouldn't be too difficult to cut an inch on the top and bottom away from existing cabin to accommodate the slightly larger vertical size. 

Here's the Lippert information I'm looking at, 3000 FV minimum size 12X12 and maximum size 36X30:

 

I like canopy style frameless windows instead sliding windows, looking forward to see what Oliver retrofits older trailers with.

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by rideandfly

[routlaw]

@rideandfly I was looking at a different model that allowed a larger size but I see your point. I totally agree about frameless canopy windows and would much prefer those. One of the complaints about these 300 series from Lippert is they only open about 3 inches from the bottom but have seen videos where people made modifications which allow about 4-6 inches of total venting. 

I still prefer the windows we had on our T@b. That style of window seems to have evolved and now made by a few different manufacturers but non of them are made wide enough to fit the Oliver existing window rough openings. The largest I have seen has been approximately 36-39 inches albeit in metric values.

[routlaw]

The screen grab below illustrates the window I was referring to, however once they become this wide there is a vertical split cut in half with two operating windows. 

Looks at 3000 FVD  

[rideandfly]

@routlaw,

We previously had Dometic/Seitz awning style plexiglass windows in another camper that we liked. Most folks here want glass. 

Yep, Lippert 3000 FVD with two operating windows has a maximum size up to 72X30. 

The frameless glass dark windows looks really good on an Oliver, always liked having the ability to open the Dometic windows during light rain, too.

Like I said, it's going to be interesting to see Oliver's retrofit. I contacted Oliver about window retrofits and they said we would all be notified at the same time when available. 🙂