Repairing a broken double-paned RV window…

As the saying goes, sometimes caca occurs, or something like that. When we arrived at our site in Tucson Arizona there were a lot of tree limbs overhanging our site. We backed in figuring we would be able to trim them so they would not scratch the slideouts.

I got up on the roof and trimmed all the ones touching the roof but there were several more leaning on our slideouts. Other than noise my biggest concern was that they might tear the slideout toppers since this tree had thorns. Well, I could only reach some of the limbs and a neighbor across the way said he would contact maintenance to come by and trim them on Monday for us. Great!

We settled in and after seeing lots of hummingbirds in the area we put our hummingbird feeder out on the side window of our slide-out. Sure enough, in no time we had hummingbirds feeding at our feeder. With our site all set up and birds at the feeder we felt pretty cozy.

Monday while Sharon was fixing lunch the maintenance guys came over to trim the windows. I offered to pull in the slide so it would be easier to trim the limbs. Well, when I pulled in the slide we heard a loud boom and feared maybe something in the slide got crunched. But no… it was the hummingbird feeder on the side window which as the slide was coming in caused the outside tinted window pane to explode into a zillion little pieces. CRAP!!!  We were amazed it broke the window rather than popping off the feeder. Gee whiz. I mean if you want a hummingbird feeder that will stick to your window this is it!

No problem, we bought a window from Tiffin for the other side and after finding the receipt I not only had the part number I needed for this 26x30 window but I saw we paid $220.00 for it last time so had an idea of what it would cost. After calling Tiffin I was astounded to learn this window would now cost $723.00 plus freight and shipping for a total near $1000.00, YIKES!!!

After calling every glass shop I could find here in Tucson and Phoenix only one could repair it in time but we had to take the window out and take it Phoenix. The shop said it could maybe be fixed before the end of the month for less than $350, but no guarantees it would be done by then.

Then I found onedayglass.com  on the web and they could send me just the broken pane replacement for $125 but no guarantee I’d get it before we left due to supply chain issues. Left with little choice we decided to take the window out, disassemble it, remove the broken glass, measure the window glass for replacement and reinstall it back into the RV to be repaired later.

Let me tell you about a great YouTube video I found on taking a window out and apart. After watching it I felt confident enough to remove the window and disassemble it. Removing the broken glass was tricky but once I finished breaking all the little pieces off and disposing of them I just used a single edged razorblade to cut under the remaining broken glass for removal.

I measured all the details of the window for replacement and reinstalled the single pane of glass left in the broken window. It will need caulking if we get into a stormy situation but I will wait until then to do so since caulk is messy to remove. We decided we will likely order a replacement pane from onedayglass.com and have it delivered to our son’s house in Texas where I can fix the window properly. Never a dull moment!

NOTE: We are currently in Tucson AZ until December…

OBX–We finally got to visit the NC Outer Banks…

Sometimes we are the beneficiaries of true serendipity.  A recent example of this occurred while we were making our way south towards North Carolina.  While in Newport News we made arrangements for our next stay at a really pretty Passport America Park called North River Campground in Shawboro, NC.  We chose it because of its proximity to the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina.  Our previous attempts at visiting the OBX were thwarted by bad weather or something else so we were determined to visit this time as the forecast looked to be simply perfect.

These trips, we knew would be day trips as there just weren’t any affordable parks closer and if we went out on the OBX we would have to take some pretty expensive ferries. That was until serendipitously our friends Missi and Larry contacted us because they rented a large beach house RIGHT ON THE BEACH in Nags Head in the OBX and one of the couples they invited was unable to come.  They wanted to know if we would like to join them for a couple of nights at the beach.  Oh my gosh!  We absolutely could not believe our good fortune especially after we drove up to the house.

This was an impressive place truly right ON the beach.  Up a flight of stairs to the first level were 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and laundry.  The next upper level had a master suite with an adjacent bathroom, an open concept living area with large picture windows and a spacious fully equipped kitchen.  Both levels had covered wrap-around porches revealing fabulous views up and down the beach.  From the living area full ocean and sky views dominated the landscape.

In addition to Larry and Missi we shared the house with their delightful daughter and her super fun boyfriend as well as Missi’s really fun parents.  As quickly as possible we unpacked so we could don our bathing suits, grab our beach chairs and meet them on the beach.  This beach was one of the top ten we have seen while RVing.  It was spacious with powdery sand and perfect water temperature for a frolic in the surf.  Yes. we were mesmerized and simply stunned at our good fortune…

Missi and Larry asked us only to bring our adult beverages but we bought a watermelon for snacking and on the second day I made the NY Times recipe for rye buttery hot pretzels.  The hospitality was so amazing and we were in full vacation mode almost immediately. The second day we welcomed Missi’s parents Mike and Shirley Sue to the house.  What an incredibly fun couple they were as well.  Our last evening was particularly entertaining as Larry and Missi pulled out a game we had never played called Cards Against Humanity (yes, it is pretty wild!).  The game provided many a laugh and I was especially entertained as I had beginners luck and won the game!

The beach, the house and the company were perfect.  We loved our time at OBX and cannot thank Larry and Missi enough for thinking of us.  Serendipity struck again and with such good friends it simply couldn’t have been better…