I spent most of Thursday watching NFL football. Mission Bay RV Resort had a steady influx of RVers Wednesday afternoon and more came in for the long holiday weekend on Thursday. There was a large group of people from four or more sites having their Thanksgiving feast at tables set up in the site across from us. They must have been locals as several carloads of people joined them.

Weather-wise, it was an iffy day to dine in the open air. They had their meal early and by the time it started raining around 3:30pm, they had most of their stuff put away. We planned to have Thanksgiving dinner at Donna’s sister Sheila’s house. Her friend, Dr. Jeff Sandler, picked us up on his way from La Jolla at 4pm. We had an enjoyable evening with much conversation and good food. Jeff dropped us off at home around 9pm. I didn’t take any photos – I don’t know why – maybe because I saw so many of the same looking shots on Facebook all day.

Donna bought a bottle of Hangar 24 IPA called Betty for me. Hangar 24 is a brewery located in Redlands, California up in Riverside County. Their Betty IPA is 6.8% ABV with 68 International Bittering Units (IBUs).

I enjoyed the bottle of Betty before going to bed. It’s a well-balanced west coast style IPA.

On Friday morning, I got the ladder out from under the coach first thing and removed the front windshield cover. I had an appointment with Pro+Tech to have new windshield glass installed.

 

The driver’s side windshield was cracked all the way from the bottom up to the top. Our insurance company, Allied, set us up for glass replacement through a company called Duncan Systems. Duncan Systems arranged to have both sides of our two-piece windshield replaced and sent the glass to Pro+Tech. The guys from Pro+Tech, Dan Oglesby and his son Gabriel (it’s a family run operation), arrived around 9am. They had the new glass in a rack in the back of their truck.

We had a few rain showers earlier and I was a little concerned about rain coming down while they were working. Dan said he would do one side at a time to minimize the amount of open area while the glass was out. He said he expected the job to take about three and half hours. We put Ozark the cat into her crate while they were working.

They didn’t waste any time and set to work. Our windshield glass is bonded to the window frame with a urethane adhesive. Some windshields are set in rubber moldings. Bonded windshields took over the auto industry in the 1990s. They started by cutting the urethane with special knives – one with a blade folded at a 90-degree angle to reach behind the glass to cut through the adhesive.

Once they had the old glass out, they spent a lot of time cleaning the frame and prepping it for the new adhesive and glass. Dan told me the windshield bonding had failed on three of the four sides of the old passenger-side glass. The windshield was only held in by the adhesive on the right pillar. He showed me where the adhesive had separated from the glass – you could see the dust intrusion. He said the glass probably wasn’t properly prepped. Some urethane adhesives require a primer to adhere to glass. He figured insufficient primer or dirty glass caused the separation. I’m glad I opted to have both sides replaced. I’ve read stories of people having the windshield glass pop out while leveling the coach. We were probably heading for a windshield story.

Once they had the frame cleaned and primed, he was ready to put the new glass in.

Once he lifted the new glass in place, he used rubber shims on the bottom edge of the glass to center it in the opening. He slapped the glass with an open palm to settle it in the adhesive and work any air bubbles out. Then he carefully masked the body around the glass with painter’s tape. The next step was filling in the void between the glass and body with more urethane. The urethane adhesive he used is a primerless product from Dow Chemical.

I watched most of the work performed and I’m satisfied that a good job was done. Dan was meticulous throughout each step of the process. If you need mobile auto or RV glass in San Diego, I highly recommend Pro+Tech.

I waited two hours before I reinstalled the windshield cover. Dan said the windshield would set well enough to drive after two hours, but 24 hours is better and the urethane really takes about a week to fully cure. We won’t be moving for another 10 days, so it should be fully hardened by then.

Around 4pm, I removed the dressing from my hand. The nurse at the surgery center told me to keep the original dressing on until Friday afternoon, then I could remove it – just keep it dry and cover with a band aid. The incision hadn’t closed up as much as I thought it would. I haven’t had to take any pain meds since noon on Thursday, but my hand is still swollen.

Friday evening I grilled chicken thighs on the Traeger. I know it seems strange to have grilled chicken the day after Thanksgiving. Sheila sent us home with turkey and assorted leftovers, but we didn’t have any bread and decided to save the turkey for sandwiches that we can make today.

We had a couple of passing showers in the afternoon before things dried out. It was a cool 60 degrees here yesterday. Today should be dry and a little warmer. Temperatures will continue to warm throughout the coming week and we should be having highs around 70.

Donna plans to ride her bike to Sheila’s house to check on her cat and pick up her car. Sheila is off skiing in Park City, Utah for the weekend. We can get some shopping done today and return the car tomorrow.