You know I'm gonna put you on the spot, but I assume the above is simply in case someone wants to mass produce a kit? As in you're still only going to get a few pieces for yourself and leave the "production quantities" for others to worry about *if* it gets to that?
--Donnie
Are you asking because you'd like to do this mod to your Freedom Panels or are you asking just to put me on the spot?
Coincidentally, I was contacted Thursday by a company that saw my skylight posts and they asked if I'd be willing to work with them to produce a DIY kit.
Here's the long version answer to your question...
I told them I would be willing to, but I wasn't sure that the work to flatten out the two ribs to form a flat gasket surface was something most DIYers would want to do. The work to flatten those spots isn't very hard, it's about the easiest fiberglass work you could ever do, but maybe some people wouldn't want to tackle it.
I told them a complete kit for two skylights would consist of:
- 2 pcs. of tinted tempered glass (these will be inexpensive in even fairly small production quantities)
- 2 sets of hinges (following current automotive engineering practice, the hinges are simple pieces of spring steel, not actual hinges, so they're very inexpensive to have manufactured)
- Weatherstrip (an off-the shelf item)
- 2 latches
- Necessary nuts, bolts, washers
- (Possibly) the fiberglass supplies needed to flatten out the spots in the ribs
- Detailed step-by-step instructions (which I would write for them, I've already taken all the necessary "how to" photos)
I then suggested to them that a "partial kit" is an option they also might consider. The partial kit would not include the fiberglass supplies, nor would it include the latches. The reason for not including the latches is that the best I've been able to do so far is find the latches I used for about $45 each. I'm looking for alternate latches, but the ones I used are perfect, and only cost me $3 each at a u-pull junkyard, and they're also very available on eBay for about $10 each, so they're easy for the buyer to source himself very affordably.
I told them I thought offering a partial kit does a few things:
1. Keeps the retail price of the kit way down because the buyer can source his own latches for $3-$10 each instead of the company putting two $45 latches in the kit (that they'd also have to mark up)
2. Maybe keeps the lesser-skilled DIYers from buying. If you're willing to buy a kit where you have to source the fiberglass materials and the latches then you're probably more of the right mind set/skill set to be successful with the project.
I told the company I'd email my contacts at RV window companies on Monday to see if I can get a quote for getting the glass produced. I asked them to think about whether the full kit or the partial kit made sense for them to offer. And I'll be thinking about whether I think enough people would want the kit for me to take the time to work with the company to productize the kit.
I have no idea if this will go any further than the discussion stage, but since you asked, that's what's happened since Thursday.
Now if you really wanted to do this project and it didn't become a kit, you could always get the tempered glass done yourself at a local glass shop. I live in the middle of nowhere and I managed to find a glass shop within about 20 minutes that could make the tinted/tempered glass for the JK Safari Cab, so in more populated areas I'm sure you could find a place without too much trouble.
In the meantime... since I don't run a factory hardtop on my JK anymore I've got no use for Freedom Panels with skylights, so I'm done with this project for now and I'll move on to my next idea...
