Chinook RV

After this weekend I realize there is a blind spot dead zone directly behind my 98 Concourse!! Rear view mirror no help with window being so high on the rear door. Also I find no use whatsoever for the screen door on my unit so I removed it today and stored it for if I ever sell my rig. Now, I realize a backup camera might be nice but I would have to learn how to use and judge distance with it plus find a place to locate the screen. I am seriously considering installing a lower back window in the rear door to match the upper one. I tested my theory and by turning my rearview mirror downwards I would be able to see anything that is even on my rear bumper. What do ya'll think and has anyone done this before?? Pros and Cons that you can think of??

This is typical for RV's and large trucks - often they don't even have a rear window and you go by just the mirrors. But nothing wrong with wanting to improve the situation.

I've been thinking about a lower window too. Not so much for driving, but for in camp. Truck campers often have these smaller lower windows in their very similar rear doors, so that's one place to start. Most of the "normal" rear door windows are a bit tall (such as our upper one). Also be aware that many RV door windows have a plastic surround. Mine (and I would imagine other Chinooks) have a metal framed window. Likely Hehr or Se-Gi.

But for seeing out the back while driving, here is something I use that works really well: A stick on "fresnel" lens on the existing rear door window. You can see everything, and they are inexpensive and just stick on with water and pressing. I bought mine on Amazon [see info below] - the largest one that would fit the window just fit perfectly. Full width coverage and I put it at the bottom of the normal door window so there is still the upper half of the door window to look out of "normally."

One caveat is that after a few months I noticed a weird smell back by the door/shower. Took me ages to figure out it was the "lens" because it was just an occasional whiff, and only in certain conditions. Turns out it was the lens after some time of being in a lot of sun. I often park with the rear door facing southish, so it would get a lot of sun -- coming through the glass to boot -- and heat up and smell funny after some time. Probably no issue if you don't park with it facing the sun for days on end ---- or you can remove it and put it on just for driving (what I'm going to do with the new one I just ordered). Kind of cool when parked too as you can see people approaching the rig from the sides, plus just more scenery, thanks to the fresnel-ness.

PS: Looked up the one I got and it was a "CIPA 60300 Wide Angle Lens - 11" x 14" Less than $15.

PPS: Funny, but the screen door is one of my favorite things. Such a luxury after camper vans and such with either no screen or fabric type things you had to kind of burrow through to get in and out. I also particularly like how the one in my era Chinook uses magnets instead of those little plastic latches (that you have to open the panel to get to...). Not that I'm criticizing, mind you. I have the bathroom door, microwave, furnace, club chairs, side table, oven, and probably other things I'm forgetting tucked away in storage

I second the Fresnel lens I got one (same CIPA 60300 as Blue above) shortly after buying my Concourse 4 years ago and it's almost as good as a car (does distort the distance perception a bit, so cars will look further away than they are, but you get full view to maybe 5 feet from the bumper and both sides fine). Mine tend to get bad after 1-2 years, yellowing and then falling off and not sticking any more. But for a few bucks, I don't mind buying another (I just got my third one).

Bob

Thanks guys, I ordered a stickon yesterday . For the money I will give it a try. I did remove that screen door though. And I bet later I end up installing a lower back window.

I'm just curious about something on the screen door. Not trying to talk you into putting it back on; as I said, I've removed plenty of things from my Chinook and stored them away because it suits me that way.

But... you mentioned it was a hassle. And your Concourse should have the same "system" mine does for the screen door. Which is magnets that keep it latched to the main door until you want to use it. So in other words, the screen door should stay completely out of your hair (even going in and out the door) unless or until you want to put it to use.

However, one of the magnets was missing on my screen door/main door interface. This meant that the other magnet that holds the screen door to the Chinook door frame was too powerful (relatively). So the door would stick to the main door frame and I'd have to mess with it every time I went in and out (ugh). That totally ruined the super cool magnet interface.

What I did was take a small piece of tape and partially cover the magnet that attaches the screen door to the Chinook frame. That way it was "equal" to the door magnets and worked the way it was supposed to.

(Eventually, I found a source for the little round magnets, but I still have to find or make a little "pillar" for it to sit on, so for now I still have one missing magnet on the door interface, and a bit of tape partially covering the main frame interface so they are balanced.)

In other words, when the magnets are there and working correctly, the screen door just moves with the main door with no input from you, and you don't have to touch it. If you do want to use the screen door, you pull it off the main door and then you have the separate screen door, which connects to the Chinook body with a magnet, so you can just go in and out and no need to fiddle with the sliding plastic panel or the typical plastic latch.

I did post a number of photos explaining this - I think it was actually a screen door thread - when someone else with our era rig asked about it (due to similar problem).

All that said, of course maybe it was working fine and you just don't need one. No problem! But in case you got annoyed with it because you had to "deal" with it every time you went in and out, well, that's not the way it is supposed to work and that happens when a magnet is missing (you can see this in the other thread where I posted photos).

Will be interesting to see how you like the back door lens. And if you find a window, please do post as I'm still interested in that for in camp.

BG

Well I just installed the back door wide angle lens and I love it. That is all I needed. Not even thinking of a second window now. One question though? I did my very best to get all the water/air bubbles out but there are still some I can't get to move to the edge to get out. Instructions say give it 24 hours to be completely clear. Does that meen those bubbles will go away? Or does it just meen some of the "fogginess" will clear up? Is it normal to have a "sunglare" streak on it? In the shade it appears perfectly clear to me. With sunlight it appears foggy in about 1/3 of it. I have never driven anything with one of these so don't know what to expect.

Usually heat (just normal weather heat, nothing special) and a little time will allow any moisture to evaporate and clear things up. The only other thing I can think of would be if you used really hard water or something similar. I think I put mine on with water from a machine (i.e. not well water).

Anyway, glad you like it. I was amazed - always figured those things were just gimicky, and for people who didn't know how to use their mirrors until I tried on on the Chinook. The extra vision is great. Kinda fun in camp too