Replacing the plastic window pane in your motorhome

Owning one of these beloved classics is akin to owning a historic landmark—you cherish it, but it demands ongoing care and attention. A longstanding task on our agenda has been addressing the broken kitchen window.

The window was already damaged when we bought Heidi; the previous owners told us that we could easily replace it. Naively, we took their word for it.

As it turns out, finding a replacement window isn't straightforward. Buying a new one involves purchasing the entire window assembly, including the inner and outer frames and blinds, costing around £1,000. Unfortunately, the manufacturer, Dometic, no longer produces the exact size for our kitchen window.

During a maintenance session at 'Snailvans' - the Hymer experts in Leicester, Chris proposed enlarging the hole to accommodate a new window—a drastic measure which we weren't keen on.

I went back to back to the drawing board, and after much research found that individual plastic panes can be bought from Camperbros in Bari, Italy. I was disappointed to learn that post-Brexit, they no longer ship to the UK and our plan to swing by during our 2022 summer roadtrip and pick one up from them fell through.

Another option that I found on one of the Hymer facebook groups was with Ecco Ltd, offering to craft a replica if we sent them the original pane, but given that Heidi is our home, that presented us with more problems as we would be without a window for several weeks.

A glimmer of hope emerged with a forum mention of Acrywin (www.acrywin.com) in Bulgaria manufacturing replacement panes for these vintage windows and better still, they do ship to the U.K !

The website gives two sizes for each window - the size of the hole that your window fills and the plastic pane dimensions. They are available in light grey or light brown, so be careful when ordering that you pick the correct colour. For reference, our Hymer (1992 S700) has light brown windows.

As with all things vintage, it didnt come cheap but hopefully it'll last another 32 years. It cost £220 inclusive of delivery, and I placed my order with a credit card giving a layer of security in case of any delivery mishaps.

After a couple of weeks, our new window arrived, meticulously wrapped and seemingly the right size. The installation had to put be put on hold whilst we waited for ideal weather conditions, and after many days of blustery showers, the sun came out, and finally, "window day" arrived.

Replacing the old pane sounded like a straightforward process in everything that I had read, but removing a 32 year old window made me really nervous. Could it really be as straightforward as just undoing a few screws, lifting the window up and letting the old pane slide out? It actually really was that simple, much to my delight and relief! All you need to do is, unscrew the window stay (the part that holds the window open) so that its unattached and allows the window to open fully. Open the window from outside as high as it will go and it will (should) just pop out.

Fitting the new pane was just as simple, the only thing to be sure of is that you've lined everything up as it was before. The new pane doesnt come with any replacement latches but this isnt an issue, we simply cleaned up the old ones and used them. We quite like the fact that something original has been kept.

Surprisingly, the new window locked into place smoothly, and just like that, we had a brand-new window, adding a fresh touch to our cherished classic.

We may not have included all of the details here, but please feel free to contact us directly if you would like any further information.