Repairing rounded shower door on Contessa 2007

[Uwe Schmalenbach]

I broke the glass on my rounded shower door on a 2007 Contessa 40'. So far the only solution I found is to replace the door. Beaver Sales oregon and Navistar are quoting $ 1.500,-- approx., including freight to San Jose Ca where I live, for a brand new door.  That seems quite high. Does anybody know of a less expensive way to fix the problem?

[Edward Buker]

Uwe,

I'm afraid that this is a tempered safety custom curved piece of glass from Cesana. The Italians are very skilled in this field and I would be very surprised if you could find one elsewhere that would fit. The only option that is conceivable is to get a plexiglass shop that is skilled at forming plexiglass to see if they would attempt to make something that fits that existing glass frame. I have wondered if that was possible.

On a side note I have made several keepers to assure that my door cannot bounce up and off or move from a parked position while traveling. I park it over the fixed glass panel (open position) which I think is best. These doors were not designed for a moving motorhome application and Monaco/Beaver adapted them without solving the travel problem with this door design.

Link to photos of what I made that keep the door safe while traveling. The clamp keeps the door from jumping up off the support frame and the strap locks the door in the open position well supported by the fixed panel.

http://forum.bacrallies.com/m-1371851818/s-3/highlight-shower/#num3

This is a Cesana dealer but the prices are unlikely to be different.

Luxury Marketing, Inc.
 40 Republis Rd.
 Unit A
 Melville, NY 11747
 877-366-5893

Later Ed

[Uwe Schmalenbach]

Thank you very much. That was very helpful. i ordered the replacement door from Beaver Coach Sales in Oregon and will keep the door open during travel in the future.

[Edward Buker]

Uwe,

The door by whatever means has to be securely kept in position while traveling. The open position that I prefer also keeps the rollers from putting depressions in the travel area of the plastic top rail strip, which makes for a smoother roller travel over time, when opening and closing the door. I replaced that strip to eliminate the depressions made in the top from when the door had been kept parked in the closed position while traveling.  

Later Ed

[Lee Welbanks]

Ed,
From this conversation I assume that this shower door rolls open and closed on a track? The glass shower door in the Thunder is hinged and swings open and closed. It had a wiper on the bottom that was supposed to keep the water from getting under the door, problem was that the wiper make the door very hard to open and close when it rubbed over the bottom rail of the shower frame it would actually torque the door. After eyeballing it a bit I figured that there was not way water was getting under the door so I just cut it off and bingo door opens and closes very easy and no water ever gets out of the shower. The door also has a very good turn latch (keeper) that holds the door from moving while traveling.

[Edward Buker]

Lee,

The door I was referring to has rollers on the top of the movable section, that rides on a round curved aluminum extrusion that traverses the opening and the fixed panel. A hinged door is a whole different scenario and probably more secure with less of a risk. I am really not sure which version Uwe has on his. Hard to know with all the coaches out there...pictures would probably help when posting an issue.

Later Ed

[Lee Welbanks]

Lee,

The door I was referring to has rollers on the top of the movable section, that rides on a round curved aluminum extrusion that traverses the opening and the fixed panel. A hinged door is a whole different scenario and probably more secure with less of a risk. I am really not sure which version Uwe has on his. Hard to know with all the coaches out there...pictures would probably help when posting an issue.

Later Ed

Ed,

Yes the door is very secure and works much better after removing the wiper on the bottom. I have heard of one poor sole that broke their door when the wiper hung up, I'm not going down that road, I was figuring if I ever broke the door it would be cheaper to install a new tile shower with a glass surround.