Has anyone lost a skylight when driving?

[Jac Sprat]

Our skylight suddenly flew off today on the Spanish motorway north of San Sebastián.
It hung on by one corner and husband grabbed a part of it to stop it flying off. We stopped when we could and wrapped a cord around it and tethered it to the table below, then put loads of duct tape on.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Will it take ages for the part to arrive in Spain ? I don’t think this one can be repaired as a piece came off.
We’re going to limp to Peniscola where we’ve reserved and hope we can sort it out from there.
Any ideas?

 

[Emmit]

Sorry for your problems.

With Bible in right hand, (other religious books are available)
could you admit or deny that said skylight was not fully down
when incident occurred.

 

[bubble63]

Yes !!
lost a 400x400 toilet vent on the way to Goodwood, fashioned a new lid from corrugated plastic
as an almost instant fix , pop an umbrella out the hole for an instant fix , keeps the rain out until you can get to it !

 

[StitchUp]

I was just about to ask - how easy is it to remove a skylight for cleaning and re-sealing I'll have to take a drive along the motorway

 

[TheBig1]

I was just about to ask - how easy is it to remove a skylight for cleaning and re-sealing I'll have to take a drive along the motorway

If you can weild a screwdriver, removal is very easy. The clean up can be messy, but an old credit card and white spirit are your friends. The re-bed on new sealant and do the screws back up evenly but not too tight. You don't want to squeeze all the sealant out

Replacement skylights are easy enough to get hold of and it is usually better to replace the whole thing rather than just the dome. Plastic ages quickly and goes brittle

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[pampam]

We lost ours completely leaving A1 to A64 wo called at a sainsburys and bought clear gaffa tape,i climbed on roof and totally sealed the skylight ,it was totally water tight and still let light in, we got it fixed a few weeks later when we returned home at dealership, but the clear tape made a great job .

 

[Jac Sprat]

Sorry for your problems.

With Bible in right hand, (other religious books are available)
could you admit or deny that said skylight was not fully down
when incident occurred.

We haven’t opened it for months!

 

[Jac Sprat]

If you can weild a screwdriver, removal is very easy. The clean up can be messy, but an old credit card and white spirit are your friends. The re-bed on new sealant and do the screws back up evenly but not too tight. You don't want to squeeze all the sealant out

Replacement skylights are easy enough to get hold of and it is usually better to replace the whole thing rather than just the dome. Plastic ages quickly and goes brittle

Thanks. Do you think we’ll get a replacement easily on the east coast of Spain?

 

[StitchUp]

Replacement skylights are easy enough to get hold of and it is usually better to replace the whole thing rather than just the dome. Plastic ages quickly and goes brittle

Not wishing to Hijack this thread but does this picture allow anyone to identify this skylight in case I wish to replace?

Thanks

 

[Googlebot]

Yes, it’s one of these.

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[Puddleduck]

Sorry for the nuisance.

We've had two go during the same storm on our last van. One smashed by an errant greenhouse (!) and the next one back hit by debris.

One skylight easy to source and repair the other was a special with lights etc which took 2 months to source.

 

[TheBig1]

Thanks. Do you think we’ll get a replacement easily on the east coast of Spain?

Any caravan accessory shop will have the small ones, but you will need to have a bigger one delivered. There are useful people all over Spain. If you post the general location, one of the locals will tell you the best place in that area

 

[Guigsy]

We had one let go on the motorway. It was more than 10 years old and had obviously been sun damaged. It was covered in a spiders web pattern and was yellowing. It snapped off its hinge on one side and was flapping in the breeze. Tapped it down for the holiday. Replaced both of the skylights when I got home.

 

[PP Bear]

Not wishing to Hijack this thread but does this picture allow anyone to identify this skylight in case I wish to replace?
View attachment 724946

Thanks

Lots here….

O'Leary Motorhomes Online Shop Search Roof vent

O'Leary Motorhomes - the UK's No1 source for Motorhome self build, parts and accessories

www.olearymotorhomes.co.uk

 

[Emmit]

Not wishing to Hijack this thread but does this picture allow anyone to identify this skylight in case I wish to replace?
View attachment 724946

Thanks

Mrs Emmit once demanded that I exchange a motorised fan for one of the above when we bought a new caravan going back in time.
The cost of the above was offset by selling the fan on Fleabay.

On exchange the missing fan was not mentioned or pointed out.

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[Jac Sprat]

Any caravan accessory shop will have the small ones, but you will need to have a bigger one delivered. There are useful people all over Spain. If you post the general location, one of the locals will tell you the best place in that area

Thanks. We’re in San Sebastián at the moment
Hoping to be at Peniscola Sunday for four days.

 

[Jac Sprat]

We had one let go on the motorway. It was more than 10 years old and had obviously been sun damaged. It was covered in a spiders web pattern and was yellowing. It snapped off its hinge on one side and was flapping in the breeze. Tapped it down for the holiday. Replaced both of the skylights when I got home.

Did you get on the roof to tape it down? Neither of us are in any condition to do that.

 

[jongood]

Our skylight suddenly flew off today on the Spanish motorway north of San Sebastián.
It hung on by one corner and husband grabbed a part of it to stop it flying off. We stopped when we could and wrapped a cord around it and tethered it to the table below, then put loads of duct tape on.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Will it take ages for the part to arrive in Spain ? I don’t think this one can be repaired as a piece came off.
We’re going to limp to Peniscola where we’ve reserved and hope we can sort it out from there.
Any ideas?

Theres quite a good mh spares dealer in Irun They had a new gas valve for my fridge on the shelf, might be worth a go.
YpoCamp Caravanas Evasión
+34 943 63 44 40

Broken Link Removed

 

[Reallyretired]

Not lost one ourselves but met someone who had. They lost it on the notorious Rouen underpasses.

 

[Jac Sprat]

Theres quite a good mh spares dealer in Irun They had a new gas valve for my fridge on the shelf, might be worth a go.
YpoCamp Caravanas Evasión
+34 943 63 44 40

Broken Link Removed

Thanks very kind. We’ll try them .

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[Jac Sprat]

Are they cheap enough or should it go through the insurance?

 

[nicholsong]

Our skylight suddenly flew off today on the Spanish motorway north of San Sebastián.
It hung on by one corner and husband grabbed a part of it to stop it flying off. We stopped when we could and wrapped a cord around it and tethered it to the table below, then put loads of duct tape on.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Will it take ages for the part to arrive in Spain ? I don’t think this one can be repaired as a piece came off.
We’re going to limp to Peniscola where we’ve reserved and hope we can sort it out from there.
Any ideas?

Was it front-hinged, and what speed were you doing?

No criticism, but just asking to protect ours which we usually leave cracked open to aid ventilation.

 

[grasscutter]

We lost ours during strong winds when parked up on the seafront on Roquetas de Mar.
Drove to Hispavan who are in the Almeria region and they had one in stock.
They supplied the mastic etc so that I could refit it myself.

 

[Guigsy]

Did you get on the roof to tape it down? Neither of us are in any condition to do that.

It was a PVC and the vent was at the front. So I could reach it by standing on the seats and clinging on hanging out the doors. I got a couple of long stripes over the top and down the sides of the van. I added tape on the inside to hold it down. It was really rough and looked stupid, but I just had to stop it flying off.

 

[Jac Sprat]

Was it front-hinged, and what speed were you doing?

No criticism, but just asking to protect ours which we usually leave cracked open to aid ventilation.

Back hinged and we were doing about 80 most of the day. Very strong sideways winds for two days and driving rain.

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[Jac Sprat]

Does anyone know of a good dealership around Peniscola? East coast between Barcelona and Castellón de la Plana

 

[nicholsong]

Back hinged and we were doing about 80 most of the day. Very strong sideways winds for two days and driving rain.

Thanks for that. Ours is front-hinged. If the 80 was mph we have never reached that speed.

I feel a little safer now.

 

[Manic]

Are they cheap enough or should it go through the insurance?

I wouldn’t think it’s worth going through insurance.

 

[TheBig1]

assuming a small skylight about £150 plus fitting. A big one, depending on model could be from £500 to over £1500

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

For the O.P. If the hinge fingers are still intact on the existing opener, you can remove the hinge pins, and then just slot the new cover removed out of the replacement back in it's place. If not, it'll be a full lift out and replace requiring specific tools, mastic gun scrapers ect.
Mike.