Aftermarket Lexan skylights?

Started by TommyM, March 17, 2010, 09:13 AM

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TommyM

My exterior skylight in the shower is busted.  Does anyone here have experience with Lexan?

The reason I ask is that this place:

http://www.rvskylight.com/rvskylights.htm

looks like it has a replacement that will fit for around $100 plus shipping.  I called winnebagoparts.com and the factory piece is $160.

I'm thinking the Lexan will be a tougher & longer-lasting replacement.  I'd welcome any opinions about this.  Also, the replacment will come with no holes.  Is Lexan easy to drill?  I'm assuming I could just drill holes, use butyl tape, and screw it down.

Second question. . .on the same skylight, there's an exterior skylight (on the roof) and an interior skylight, directly under the exterior one.  Is there any reason not to remove the factory interior skylight, and just trim around the hole?  I'm 6 feet tall, and an extra inch or two of headroom in the shower would make a world of difference.

Tommy
'75 Midas Class C (parted out, scrapped)
'85 27' Chieftain (crashed!)
'86 33' Chieftain (sold)
'94 37.5' Elante 37RQ
Durango, Colorado

Oz

Lexan has been used for years in motorcycle windshield and helmate faces hield applications.  It's very strong and flexible, giving it better resiliency and durability.  It's easy to cut and drill with standard hand or power tools.  I've modified several Lexan windshields which are thick in comparison to a skylight and the only thing I would add would be to use fine tooth saw blades and go slowly so as not to cause cracking along the cut edge.

One reason not to remove the interior dome would be because it's there as an insulation factor.  Heat and cold transfers through Lexan almost as rapidly as glass.  If the interior dome bulges downward, I'd suggest cutting it out and replacing it with either a flat piece or, cut inside of the lip, add flexible tub edge molding (the kind that is designed to use in the corners of shower walls), invert it and mount it so it's concave to the ceiling surface rather than convex.
1969 D22, 2 x 1974 D24 Indians, 1977 27' Itasca