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Subject:Re: Other Vanagon items I hope someone can create
From:Neil N
Date:Tue, 4 Feb 2020 12:36:44 -0800

Does excessive exposure to sunlight reduce the life span of the
skylight material?

I used construction adhesive to seal cracks in my skylight. Looks like
crap but is still sealing.

An aluminum skylight might make sense. Personally, i don't need the
added light; I'd gotten used to my '81 westy without skylight. I'd
guess manufacturing costs would be higher for aluminum. e.g. one would
need to make the tooling. And it might be a limited market?

re: latch. My thought on the skylight latch is that there might be a
tendency to over tighten it when it leaks thus stressing out the
skylight material (plexi glass ?) causing it to crack over time.
Originally, I'd thought mine was leaking at the seals so tightened it
more. This did not help. It was leaking at the hair line cracks.

Neil.

On 2/4/20, Eric Caron <ericcaron96@comcast.net> wrote:

> The first is, I like the sky light for the ventilation but don’t care about
> the light.  OK, I’m blind so that is pretty understandable.  But I also
> don’t like that it fails on a regular basis, cracks or leaks.  But, more
> then that it lets in heat during camping season.
>
> I’d love a Aluminum replacement that is the same shape and then I just need
> a screen and no more sun shield fabric falling down, and no more cracked
> skylight.
>
> Only improvement would be for a simple up and down latch to replace the weak
> crank up system.  But I can live with that.
>
> Of course a improved latch could also make it possible to  open the skylight
> completely then folks have the option to look at the sky or to reach out and
> adjust, inspect, or clean things up on the roof.
>
> My van is on skylight number 3 in 7 years so I’m up for a solid
> improvement.
>
> Anything like that out there?
>
> Is that a reasonable metal fabrication?
>
> Eric Caron
> 85 GL Auto
>

-- 
Neil n

VE7TBN

1988 Westy 50º ABA swap: https://tinyurl.com/yap5hpwt

1981 Westy 15º ABA swap: https://tinyurl.com/y9n4xob8

VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>