Swift Challenger Window seals

[David Kent]

I know that this subject has been dealt with before, but sadly I've lost the
original postings during a reinstall (I thought that I'd saved them!)

I have a Swift Challenger 400SE. It is 5 or 6 years old. The window seals
have hardened and become brittle. I need to replace them becauyse they are
now literally falling apart.

There was a discussion about where to get replacement seals about a year
ago. Swiftt were not being very helpful. (this seems to be the story of
British Caravan manufacturers generally)

If anyone knows the address of the firm who can provide replacement seals
(or still has the original postings and is willing to look the info up) I
would be very grateful if they could either post them in the group or email
them to me directly (drk...@cwcom.net)

Dave K

ps: Is there any way of accessing posting from the distant past (e.g. a
thousand or two postings ago)?

[John]

David Kent <drk...@cwcom.net> wrote in message
news:KFzS3.875$BJ3.41768@news1-hme0...

> I know that this subject has been dealt with before, but sadly I've lost
the
> original postings during a reinstall (I thought that I'd saved them!)
>
> I have a Swift Challenger 400SE. It is 5 or 6 years old. The window seals
> have hardened and become brittle. I need to replace them becauyse they are
> now literally falling apart.

<snip>

> ps: Is there any way of accessing posting from the distant past (e.g. a
> thousand or two postings ago)?

Yes; go to www.dejanews.com and search for keywords "Swift seal" in the
"uk.rec.caravanning" newsgroup. You'll find about 16 entries, but look for
posts by "Geraint Griffith".

Coincidentally, I've got exactly the same problem and have just taken my
450SE off-site for winter storage. I asked for a quote to repair these seals
whilst I have a service done. £100 a window to replace the seal!
One dealer said that I needed a special tool, but, surprisingly, it would
probably be cheaper in the long run to exchange the van (with them, of
course) :-)

Although fitting the new seal seems to be reasonably straight-forward, does
anyone have any experience with cleaning off the remnants of the old seal
from the window itself?

Finally, how does the new seal perform? Does this go brittle as well?

Any help/advice much appreciated.

John

Bolton, Lancs.

[Geraint Griffith]

Hmmm.

I bought my seals from Dave Barron (Great Outdoors) in Chorley. They sold
the seal by the metre.
There are number of versions available -grey and black gaskets etc.
It comes with mastic pre-inserted so all you need to do is to take off the
old seal and clean up the old mastic. I found white spirit ok for this.
You will find that the old seal has been stapled with a heavy duty gun -You
can't buy one of these in Argos so I used nail type staples instead.

Carefully tap the new seal into place starting at the same place as the old
join. I used a rubber mallet to bed the seal in.

Finally cut the seal to size. This is hard to get exactly right -try
cutting slightly over size first with a very sharp craft knife and then butt
the two end together,

Replace the original plastic strip (having marked left and right in pencil
on it before you removed it!) and use the old screw holes to finish the job
when replacing the window stays.

Pretty easy really, just take your time and make sure you know your left
from your right!

Good luck

Geraint

John <nos...@nospam.nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:941284229.10402.0...@news.demon.co.uk...

[james crawford]

My Challenger also suffered from this problem, apparently 1994 was a bad
year for those fitted with grey seals although Swift will not admit it.
Mine were renewed by Barron's at Darlington after I wrote to Swift, but the
replacements have also gone brittle (grey again). I complained to Barron's
but because I was 1 month past their year's warranty they said they needed
to consult Swift and would let me know. I'm still waiting for their reply
more than 2 years later. The DIY job appeals to me Geraint, how much was the
new seal?

Jim Crawford

[Geraint Griffith]

To be honest Jim I can't remember the cost -it was some 2 years ago when I
did the job but I know it did not cost more than 60 ukpounds to do the three
front windows and one side window. These are the windows that are exposed
to the sun during storage and therefore get the most UV.

I bought the seals from Barron's spares department. The black seal seems to
be lasting a bit better than the old grey seal and fitted ok. DIY is
straightforward so long as you are methodical and mark where you start from,
left and right etc.

Good luck

Geraint

james crawford <j...@grange99.swinternet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7vfe6e$g93$1...@news5.svr.pol.co.uk...

[John]

Geraint, thanks very much for all your info and instructions. That's
brilliant. I live near to Dave Barron's so I'll give it a go.

One last question: parts of the old strip have stuck to the Perspex itself.
Do you have any advice for removing this easily/safely?

Thanks again!

John
Bolton

Geraint Griffith <ger...@schools.ehche.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:7vf7dn$jl$1...@news4.svr.pol.co.uk...

[Geraint Griffith]

Rub with white spirit and scrape with a plastic scraper. A pies of old
polythene -sort of thing you get with Plastic Padding.

Actually I did it with a paint scraper and managed to do it with just a
little scratching on the bit that comes into contact with the seal so I
wasn't too worried.

Good luck

Geraint
John <nos...@nospam.nospam.nospam> wrote in message

news:941409095.5508.0...@news.demon.co.uk...

[Reg Goodrum]

Swift are notorious for not replying to enquiries from either customers or
their dealers! I have experienced this over the past 12 months with regard
to water ingress in my less than 2 year old 'van.

The moral is "don't hold your breath if waiting to hear from Swift!".
james crawford wrote in message <7vfe6e$g93$1...@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>...

[MeKoN]

Reg Goodrum <r...@goodrum97.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7vngol$3n9$1...@news4.svr.pol.co.uk...

> Swift are notorious for not replying to enquiries from either customers or
> their dealers! I have experienced this over the past 12 months with regard
> to water ingress in my less than 2 year old 'van.

Possibly true.. I have never written to Swift. But they have an acceptable
customer services department which you can reach by phone (the number is on
the back page of your handbook). However, it pays to be politely assertive
when talking to them. For when it comes to committing themselves to
delivery times for parts, the Swift group are like dinosaurs saying
"...Meteorite? Huh ? What's a meteorite ?"
In this case the approaching meteorite is a metaphor for certain European
caravan manufacturers who are quite ready to cause the extinction of the
Swift group as we know it.
--
|\/| e |<O |\|
meko...@usa.net

[John]

Thanks again Geraint. I'll follow your advice and let you know how it goes.

Do you get your van serviced with Barrons?

Cheers.

John
Bolton

Geraint Griffith <ger...@schools.ehche.ac.uk> wrote in message

news:7vn769$q1s$1...@news4.svr.pol.co.uk...