Tere is a little concerned about what she believes are small pieces of metal falling from the top left front corner of the windshield, on to the dash. About a year ago, we noticed some streaking on the inside of the windshield. Caulking fixed that. Question is 'What is the front window frame detail look like? I know that the Barth's construction is all aluminum, but do they use steel tubing around the windshield? Tere is thinking we need to have both windshields taken out and the whole thing checked over before we paint the front of the Barth. Anybody have some experience here?

Yep Jim, that's probably the same little "battery" that many Barths have working up there...probably not the best in initial design.

On my '78, the exterior of the top of the windshield "A" pillar is the connection point for:

1. The fiberglas roof-cap piece,
2. The aluminimum side panel,
3. The rubber windshield gasket
4. The steel square tube framing member inside.

Four different materials, with different rates of expansion/contraction, all coming together at one point. Plus, the gasket making its sharpest bend and therefore wanting to pull away from the frame.

I'm guessing that the tiniest leak allows water in the presence of a steel tube riveted to an aluminum skin starts the whole process. Many older Barths will show skin corrosion on the "A" pillar, usually around the rivets, but sometimes just poking through anywhere on the skin.

If you look around the upholstered panel of the "A" pillar, towards the glass, I think you'll see rust-colored specks on the metal, the source of your falling flakes.

My windshield gasket has been the common source of moisture penetration. I re-seal the area of the tight radius with polysulfide, only to see a gap re-appear. Twice-a-season attention seems to keep up with it. Naturally, ALL of the seams in this area should be looked at - with varying temps, there's lots of different materials moving around up there.

My "A" pillars are badly corroded and I have been seeing rust on the dash for the three years I have owned my Barth. Finally on the last trip to the beach this year the fiberglass roof-cap piece came loose at the top of the windshield going 65 MPH on I-85. Everything stored in the cubby over the windshield came flying out and blew all over the Barth. I pulled over and found the steel had rusted so badly the rivets came loose and let about five feet the fiberglass come loose. A strip of Aluminum tape sealed the hole for the rest of the trip. I will post a pic when I get the chance. I have not figured how to fix it yet but the tape will have to go. I am building a cover for it now.
Neil.

Neil, sounds like a rather exciting trip, what with things blowing around in side the Barth. Think I will add aluminum tape to my tool kit. Duct tape is great but probably wouldn't have helped in that situation.

I fixed one on my last barth i will be glad to give you pointers if you need them Richard

Neil,
We're getting ready to buy some aluminum tape. Our rust problem seems to be similar. Do you still have pics? Did you repair the hole?
tere

Tere.

I wish I would have taken pictures but never think of it until I am done. I ended up taking the complete shelf out over the windshield and the vinyl/plywood cosmetic cover at the top of the windshield. Both were very rotted and had to be rebuilt with new wood. The windshield obviously had been leaking for many years and the windshield frame was very rusted to the point a lot of it was missing. The wood made things worse by soaking up the water keeping it wet. The proper repair would have been to remove the windshields, fiberglass cap, clean and repair the rusted metal and install new rubber. Being this is a 32 year old RV of limited value I chose to go with the cheap fix that I could do. I drilled out all the rivets across the top of the windshield so I could get in there and clean out as much rust as possible. I coated what metal was left with rust killer/preventative including the interior. I purchased black urethane windshield sealant, filled the voids under the fiberglass cap and the windshield rubber. I carefully pulled the rubber seal over the fiberglass cap with a tool making sure there was plenty of the urethane sealant/glue on everything. I used latex gloves and painters tape to try to keep the mess to a minimum, still made a mess. I drilled double the amount of rivet holes hoping to get a good mechanical bond to the badly rusted windshield frame. I put a small bead of urethane sealant around the windshield rubber. Make sure you clean this stuff of before it cures because it won’t come off after. I cleaned and sealed the roof and fiberglass cap with a sealant I bought from camping world (can’t remember the name) that is great stuff. Before I put it back together I had my son spray the whole front end and the roof with a pressure washer at different angles and had no leaks. We drove it to the coast over spring brake with no problems. In my opinion this is an area the needs yearly maintenance to stay leak free. Now I have to figure out what to do with the badly corroded aluminum on the "A" pillars that was caused by the years of leaks. This will be next years project.

So far, we have used a flexible steel putty knife to remove all the loose rust and stuff behind the windshield gasket. I then used my air compressor to blow out any debris left. I would pry back a 1" section of gasket and blow it out and repeat the process along the entire top of the windshield. I then used some rust stop with a narrow tube attached to the spray can and sprayed behind the windshield gasket, hoping to stop what ever rust was there that hadn't completely corroded the steel. Next, I will run a bead of seam sealer behind the rubber gasket. After I have repainted the front cap, I will then seal the front gasket again with black butyl based sealant. If it leaks, I'll get my check book out. One of the rivets in the right front fiberglass cap is gone and upon inspection, I determined that there is nothing behind it. So I know that some of the steel tubing for the windshield gasket is completely gone. Hopefully, not enough to prevent this quick fix to work. If it doesn't work I'll get the check book out. The only way to really fix this problem is to take the windshields out along with the gasket, and then move to the inside and remove all of the cabinets at the front and then have a shop repair all the damage with welded in steel tubing etc. That is a major project and I figure will cost close to $5000. I might just buy Ed's Regal than do that and keep mine for parts.
PS Also will make sure I have aluminum tape when I go anywhere.