Westy Window Seal

Post by **Mark S** » 09 Jul 2007, 16:20

Does anybody know where to get a seal for the opening acrylic double-glazed window behind the sink on the Westy joker?

Thanks.

Post by **Westy.Club.Joker** » 09 Jul 2007, 21:12

Either VW main dealer if they are still available, which I think they are, or one of the window seal manufacturers. I have looked at this, the seal isn`t a standard sort of size though, the hollow part (that your window squashes against) is smaller than the usual seal of this type, it`s one thing I am still looking to track down at a sensible price, VW dealer may be worth a price check first, you may be surprised. Alan Schofield (website or Google the name) may be worth a call, they have a lot of seals so may have come across the correct stuff?

Is you seal knacked, or just shrunken away from the corners like mine? Mine was leaking rain in through the corners at the bottom as it had pulled away due to shrinkage. I cut the seal at the bottom (there was no join in it before) and pressed it hard into each corner so it was seated correctly again. there was then a 3" gap at the bottom, it had shrunk that much. I managed to fill the gap with a piece of old seal cut about a bit, off an old car door seal. Does the job and is watertight until I find a new seal.

Post by **Mark S** » 09 Jul 2007, 21:39

Yes, it's shrunk away from the corners and split in a few places too.

There is a site (http://www.sealsdirect.co.uk) that sells a seal that seems about the right dimensions for about £4 per metre. I will order 3 m of that and it ought to be good enough for government work. If it works I'll let you know how the job went.

Post by **Westy.Club.Joker** » 09 Jul 2007, 22:42

I`ve looked at that site. Their seal looks to be a bit large on the glass sealing hollow bit, which may or may not make the window hard to fasten closed, or may stop it closing at all. Just my thoughts, that`s why I didn`t order any from them. Try asking for a couple of inches as a sample first to check the size.?

Post by **Mark S** » 12 Jul 2007, 21:07

It arrived yesterday and I agree: the bulb does look a bit fatter than the one on there. However, I reckon it should do the job and provide a nice snug fit. I'm doing the job next week and will report on how it went.

Post by **Westy.Club.Joker** » 12 Jul 2007, 22:10

Be careful of stressing the window when closing it against the fatter rubber. I did this somehow, probably after taking off the side catches then not getting them ligned up properly when refitted, I think it twisted the window slightly when closed. Anyway, it developed condensation in it after that, which I got rid of in the end with removing the small bungs and letting the warm sun (remember when we had some back in April) and after a couple of weeks it had dried out, I resealed the bungs with a slight smear of silicone sealant.

Post by **Mark S** » 18 Jul 2007, 21:11

Just done the job and it looks the dog's. Filled the seal with Sikaflex before pushing it home. You'd be hard pushed to find a better seal on a submarine. It is true that the window is stiffer to close than it was, but I wouldn't say that it is greatly over-stressed. In time, I suppose that the new seal will shrink as the old one did and that can only reduce its overall size and make the window gradually easier to close again.

I've still got a short length of seal spare: if anyone would like it I can send it to them.