Jayco Skylights-Worth It?

[Hattie]

Love the kitchen and shower skylights - temperature is not an issue for us, and curtains keep the sleeping areas dark. Love not being in a dark box!

[Salomon]

My trailer is less than a year old and my skylight shattered. I have no idea why it broke as I did not hit anything. I paid $350 to have it replaced and I went ahead and got a smoke colored light to replace it so it doesn't let in as much heat here in Texas. I do like having the light but I suspect this is going to cost more than it benefits over the life of the trailer.

[borninblue]

Which skylight shattered, and what year and model do you have?

[BigJohnD]

Just another option if you have a skylight and don't care for it. There is batten, reflectix and luan between outside and inside. Outside is coated thick. I had planned to remove the outer dome completely, but got lazy and left it for now. I'm of the opinion mentioned earlier. If I want natural light, I go outside, if I want light inside, I turn the light on. But, it's an option and some like them, and that's all good.

[Hattie]

Originally Posted by Salomon

My trailer is less than a year old and my skylight shattered. I have no idea why it broke as I did not hit anything. I paid $350 to have it replaced.

With a new trailer - there is a warranty, Jayco's is for 2-years. Why wasn't this covered?

[Salomon]

Originally Posted by borninblue

Which skylight shattered, and what year and model do you have?

Originally Posted by Hattie

With a new trailer - there is a warranty, Jayco's is for 2-years. Why wasn't this covered?

My trailer is a 2015 Whitehawk. The skylight that shattered was in my living room area.

According to the service guys that repaired it, the warranty doesn't cover broken skylights but rather only things like leaking, etc ... I wish it would have been covered by the warranty.

[borninblue]

Originally Posted by Salomon

My trailer is a 2015 Whitehawk. The skylight that shattered was in my living room area.

According to the service guys that repaired it, the warranty doesn't cover broken skylights but rather only things like leaking, etc ... I wish it would have been covered by the warranty.

Do you know what caused it to shatter?

[Salomon]

Originally Posted by borninblue

Do you know what caused it to shatter?

Unfortunately I do not. The odd thing was, there wasn't even broken plastic inside the window frame - it was clean. The AC sits right behind it and had no marking on the plastic indicating I had hit something either. The roofing area around the window is in perfect shape too. Bizarre. I had thought perhaps it froze and cracked but I'd think at least some broken plastic would have been present.

[rjackson]

Originally Posted by borninblue

Do you know what caused it to shatter?

I would question that it wasn't covered by warranty, they say bumper to bumper. I would have called Jayco directly

[Fairenatic]

Originally Posted by rjackson

I would question that it wasn't covered by warranty, they say bumper to bumper. I would have called Jayco directly

Hard to prove it was not abused or accidentally damaged. Even though the heat, UV, and time make it so brittle that it broke on its own.

[ecoboosteagle]

I have the kitchen sky light and one in the slide as well. The one in the slide leaked slightly the first year in a heavy rain. Upon inspection I noticed that the slide roof holds quite a bit of water if your trailer is level and second the skylight is sealed with the di-cor sealing tape only. I used sealant all around the tape and it did the trick, no leak since. After or just before a heavy rain I will either raise or drop the tongue of the trailer so water does not accumulate on slides. I am considering getting slide top covers but that would kind of illminate the point of a skylight...

[skiingviking]

I'm so glad that I got the skylight in my 2016 28 BHBE with Elite package, it also came with a sliding skylight shade which helps cut solar gain. I also have the 15K but air conditioners and it hasn't been a problem for us. Good luck with your decision, either way you are going to love it!

[spoon059]

We love the skylight, plenty of natural daylight. We prefer natural daylight as opposed to lights when at all possible.

In terms of the heat, there are VERY simple solutions for when its hot and you prefer the darker and cooler camper. We have a strip of Reflectix insulation that blocks out 95% of the light, then a piece of foam that we push into the skylight from the inside. That does at least as good a job of insulating the skylight as the factory insulation would have done.

That gives us the best of both worlds... natural daylight when we want it, effective insulation when we don't.

[ctbailey]

We too have liked our skylight... until today!

I was doing roof snow cleaning, and I discovered the exterior skylight dome over the kitchen had failed under snow load.

It must have failed last weekend, because this weekend while I was excavating the 2 feet of snow, I found there was re-freeze in the skylight cavity.

I had been eyeballing that thing since last fall, when my gut was telling me the material was looking quite yellowed and brittle.

I should have replaced it last fall during winterization operations. Now I have a plywood box over the hole until snowmelt.

I'll tell ya.... winter camping in these summer units is tough on them! They were obviously not designed for the rigors of winter. Not they're fault.... if you push the envelope like I'm doing, you should expect some pushback.


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[Wanderer]

I have 2 skylights - 1 in main part of trailer which came with a shade, super helpful when needing more light. Other in shower also great for light, however in summer can make bathroom very hot. Easy fix is reflective door window cover. Easy on/off with 4 squares of Velcro when needed.

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-45167-S.../dp/B001D9E41I

Happy Camping

[Fairenatic]

Originally Posted by ctbailey

We too have liked our skylight... until today!

I was doing roof snow cleaning, and I discovered the exterior skylight dome over the kitchen had failed under snow load.

It must have failed last weekend, because this weekend while I was excavating the 2 feet of snow, I found there was re-freeze in the skylight cavity.

I had been eyeballing that thing since last fall, when my gut was telling me the material was looking quite yellowed and brittle.

I should have replaced it last fall during winterization operations. Now I have a plywood box over the hole until snowmelt.

I'll tell ya.... winter camping in these summer units is tough on them! They were obviously not designed for the rigors of winter. Not they're fault.... if you push the envelope like I'm doing, you should expect some pushback.


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BigJohn has a solution that I am about to implement on my skylight in the bathroom\shower. The vent has already cracked in two places and the trailer is less than a year old. I bought two maxi vent II's and installed them over the vents in the bathroom and the living room. But, they are not large enough for the shower skylignt so I will be purchasing the Progurard material to pour over the skylight before it fails due to weather\sunl. (Need to double check the name of the product)

[bondo303]

This is a interesting read for me. We have a new 2017 jay feather 25bh which we bought in October. We only went on 1 trip and winterized it shortly after. This trailer was fully optioned with the exception of the bike rack. One of the options is a powered roof vent. Not sure if it is referring to the bathroom or the kitchen area. I personally, would rather not have the skylight in the kitchen. With that being said, mine is rectangle and has a shade that can be slid across. If I can remember correctly, as I haven't used it yet, it raises straight up, not on an angle like the bathroom and has a powered fan in it as well. I also have a maxxair vent cover waiting to be installed as soon as spring gets here. Now I want to go in the camper and look at it but I don't feel like walking through a foot of snow.

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[ctbailey]

Originally Posted by bondo303

This is a interesting read for me. We have a new 2017 jay feather 25bh which we bought in October. We only went on 1 trip and winterized it shortly after. This trailer was fully optioned with the exception of the bike rack. One of the options is a powered roof vent. Not sure if it is referring to the bathroom or the kitchen area. I personally, would rather not have the skylight in the kitchen. With that being said, mine is rectangle and has a shade that can be slid across. If I can remember correctly, as I haven't used it yet, it raises straight up, not on an angle like the bathroom and has a powered fan in it as well. I also have a maxxair vent cover waiting to be installed as soon as spring gets here. Now I want to go in the camper and look at it but I don't feel like walking through a foot of snow.

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Interesting! I assume you mean the powered vent is in the bathroom, and you have another 14x14 vent in a bedroom... AND you're saying the 14x24 skylight opens? Mine (a 2015 model year) has two skylights: one over the shower and the big rectangular one over the kitchen, but both "skylights" are permanently glued to the roof, and have an opposing trim ring in the ceiling of the unit.

I found a company out of Maine that will form a polycarbonate skylight (trade name Lexan) for replacement RV skylights. Polycarbonate comes either clear, white, or black... and ITS shatterproof. So... I'll be going with the black lexan for my two skylights.

Of course, I'm waiting until spring so to have a good water-free roof surface to adhere the new skylight domes to.

Or... I was thinking about filling the hole with studs and decking, and then fitting a sheet of TPO, and using EternaBond. Im not sure what I want to do yet.

(I'll probably just do a skylight)

[Screwby]

Absolutely love my skylight in the kitchen. Let's in soft natural light with no need to use artificial light until sundown. We have the horizontal shade and also the reflectix insulation cut to fit if ever needed. I'll inspect in every year keeping the edges sealed with eternabond tape. It's worth the extra work to enjoy it. YMMV

[Fairenatic]

Originally Posted by ctbailey

Interesting! I assume you mean the powered vent is in the bathroom, and you have another 14x14 vent in a bedroom... AND you're saying the 14x24 skylight opens? Mine (a 2015 model year) has two skylights: one over the shower and the big rectangular one over the kitchen, but both "skylights" are permanently glued to the roof, and have an opposing trim ring in the ceiling of the unit.

I found a company out of Maine that will form a polycarbonate skylight (trade name Lexan) for replacement RV skylights. Polycarbonate comes either clear, white, or black... and ITS shatterproof. So... I'll be going with the black lexan for my two skylights.

Of course, I'm waiting until spring so to have a good water-free roof surface to adhere the new skylight domes to.

Or... I was thinking about filling the hole with studs and decking, and then fitting a sheet of TPO, and using EternaBond. Im not sure what I want to do yet.

(I'll probably just do a skylight)

You open a whole new can of worms if you try to remove the existing skylights\vents. And.......no plastic\lexan can survive for long in extreme temperatures. The warranty on these products should be a good hint to their lifetime. Heck, my factory units failed in less than a year!!!!

I know some people like the extra light but that is what light bulbs are for. You are better off covering them and leaving the factory pieces in place. Leaks are the bane of our existence an any major surgery just begs to introduce chance of more serious problems than what you started with IMO.