The original skylight seal normally goes onto a molded-in raised lip on
the Westy roof.  It acts as a dam or gutter to keep water out.  Especially
standing water like snow or ice in the winter.  The seal needs to be
silicone-glued to be able to exclude all water from coming in past it, or
even blowing under it while driving.  I'm not sure what skylight you're
using, or what roof your trying to put it on, if it's not all stock Westy.

Mike B.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Young" <pyjme@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 10:31 PM
Subject: Skylight installation

>I know this is probably in the archives, but I can't get the search to work
>(keeps timing out) and I need some info
> on installing a skylight as I am doing a retrofit into my '81 westy. I
> bought the kit from bus depot and it didn't come
> with assembly instructions - not too much of an issue because it looks
> pretty simple. My issue is: where do I put
> the rubber seal it came with (on the dome or on the van?) and how much do
> I cut out of the skylight location. It would
> be nice if the kit came with a template for the opening and bolt holes and
> included directions on the best way to cut
> the hole. I would like to tackle this as soon as the weather is nice again
> in a couple of days. Any pictures anyone
> has of the process would be greatly appreciated, and measurements of the
> opening. I got a couple of pictures from
> online of installed skylights, but they don't tell me much about how big
> the hole is or if it is shaped any differently than
> a big square (I assume it's not). Thanks for any help!
>
> Peter
>