Found my huge dust leak..... inspect your emergency exit seal!

[John E Davies]

I always wondered why my rear window dumped large quantities of fine dust into the back of the cabin when towing off pavement! I was making a nifty “Panorama Window” lanyard to hold it fully open so I could clean around the frame, and also hold it fully open when camping (when there are no bugs).... this is what I found:

 

 

That is a 3.5” gap, and there is a second one....

 

 

Please inspect your hatch seal and tell me if yours is like this. It looks intentional, but maybe they just ran out of seal? Is there any valid reason to have these huge gaps?

 

The seal is soft foam, 3/8” wide x 1/4” thick. I am going to replace the entire seal with 1/2” wide material, all the way around. I will leave a couple of 1/8” wide moisture drain slots, one near each bottom corner.....

 

Stuff like this just makes me very mad.

 

Thanks.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Overland]

I’ve noticed that on mine also. Obviously they come from the window manufacturer like that, but why, I’ve no idea. Perhaps the gaps act as a secondary drain in case water gets through the seal, or perhaps it’s somehow related to the egress function (maybe it makes it easier to open if the seals are old and gunked  up? Dunno).

[John E Davies]

This is a Lippert 8600 Series window. I emailed their customer service asking, why the gaps and can I seal them?

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[fritzfrangle]

John,

 

Haven't opened mine yet. Is that egress window hinged at the top? I assumed it would fall away when opened.

 

Neil

[John E Davies]

Yes it is permanently attached at the top, it can’t fall away.... You should test your exit window to make sure that it is operating OK, and that you have a plan on how to exit out of it in the event of a fire. If you have a bike rack, that can be a problem because of the handlebars. While it is open, clean all the parts, look at the seals and tell us what you see. Got gaps?

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

[MDuncan]

We looked at a few in the plant and it appears the weather stripping is left of where the weep holes align in the frame for water drainage. I'm curious if Lippert confirms this assumption.

 

 

 

[John E Davies]

Lippert says this is “as designed”. I added extra seal strips along the bottom, leaving MUCH smaller drain slots.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Ronb]

Made by Lippert, enough said👎.