New Window Screens for Dummy Camper Owners

truck topper window screen

Our founder used to have a boss, we'll call him "Rich" (probably because that was his name), with whom you could never have a simple conversation. Rich's conversational style was basically stream of consciousness: halfway through a sentence he'd become distracted, and by the end of that same sentence he's veered 90 degrees from the original subject. That being said, he was a heckuva nice guy, if a little tough to follow. Today's DotD nominee, Charlie Rainer Gaston, seems to suffer from a similar conversational malady: Trails.com asked her to explain "How to Replace a Window Screen on a Camper Shell,"¹ and by the end of her post she had changed the topic entirely.

The simple fact that is that the screens on a camper shell, aka a "truck topper," are typically held in place with a rubber spline just exactly like the screens on the windows in your house. That means that you can remove the frame of the screen, not the whole darned window,and either replace it yourself or take it to your local hardware store. Trust us, it's not really that hard to replace window screen if you have a screen roller. That being said, it's pretty clear that Gaston couldn't find instructions to copy-reword-paste for her article, so she did the next best thing: she used instructions for replacing the window glass, assuming that her content editor wouldn't know the difference and she'd get paid anyway. Then again, that only works when the vaunted content editor knows squat about the subject, par for the DMS course...

That's apparently how Charlie got away with useless instructions like

"Pry the staples on the window screen from the camper shell using a flathead screwdriver. If the window is secured with screws, unscrew each screw using a screw driver..."

and

"Apply a thin layer of silicone caulk to the perimeter of the window..."

...neither of which have anything to do with the windows that Gaston herself introduced by telling her readers that,

"Camper shell windows are typically manufactured in six styles: horizontal slider, 112 degree horizontal slider, 105 degree horizontal slider, picture window, 112 degree picture window and 105 degree picture window. You can remove and replace each camper shell window type using a few simple tools..."

From that introduction, it's already obvious that Charlie knows nothing of camper shell windows: the picture windows don't have screens, and it's no more necessary to remove the entire window to replace a screen than it is on your self-storing screens at home!

No, all you have to do is remove the screen and frame (from the inside, Charlie!) and fix it like any other screen. Some frames are held in place by clips, some by screws, and some with a screw-on "molding" arrangement, like the photo above (that's the AN company truck with a Leer cap: the screens are held in place with screws and, if you look really closely at where the arrow is pointing, you can see the spline). It ain't that hard! Well, it might be hard if you're the Dumbass of the Day...

¹ The new owner of Trails.com deleted this and other content not related to hiking trails. You can still see Gaston's post by checking it out with the Wayback Machine at archive.org, using URL  trails.com/how_39594_replace-window-screen-camper-shell.html

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