How much of tailgate to carpet

[Andrewbuild]

I have already carpet lined walls and all plywood panels including the ceiling, so there is no bare metal on walls, wheel arches etc.

Have come to the tailgate now, and not sure how much of it I should be carpeting. (I've done the plywood panel, but the rest is still bare metal.)

I have a rear window and wiper which I want to retain, so its not a matter of just doing the whole back. I'll probably put a curtain in there at some point also, but that should install fine through the carpet.

A few things I'm not sure on:
i) I'm assuming that I want some slight overlap with the seal so that the edge of the carpet isn't visible, but not complete overlap as this would introduce a leak as it would stop the seal from working?
ii) around the OEM window (left, right and above) there are some slots, not sure if these are air vents for demisting or perform some other function that means I shouldn't cover them?
iii) There is no rubber per se around the edge of the window on the inside, can I /should I go right to the edge of the glass. wary of getting too close and cutting electrics of some sort (eg window heater / demister) as I trim the carpet around there.

Tried to search, but couldn't find anything relevant. Hopefully someone can shed some light on my ignorance.

 

[roadtripper]

If you search for "tailgate leaks" there are several threads with various gotchas that carpeting can introduce around the tailgate seal.

 

[david173]

Most just do the ply panel as there is no real way of doing the remaining metalwork and finishing the edge of the carpeting without bridging the seal.

If you dont like the metalwork the alternative is a shuttle, caravelle or california tailgate trim

 

[Ayjay]

Mine has the panel carpeted but metal everywhere else. The first time that it rained when we were using the van for sleeping, I discovered that the converter bloke had made an error in positioning the 'female' half of the pop studs for the curtains by positioning them so that the curtain was effectively pinched by the rubber seal when the tailgate was closed - I noticed that the curtain was wet and a pop stud had already started to rust. I replaced the rusty pop stud and liberally slathered them all (and the screw holes) with silicone grease and now fix the curtain to the inner door frame with strong magnets. No problems since. The moral is leave the door frame well alone.

 

[Andrewbuild]

ok, leaky tailgate sound like a whole lot of not fun, so will have to leave that well alone

 

[roadtripper]

If you dont like the metalwork the alternative is a shuttle, caravelle or california tailgate trim

Speaking as a nearly new Caravelle owner I can tell you first hand that having the Caravelle trim doesn't avoid you having fun trying to find where the seal is leaking...

 

[wam]

Mine has the panel carpeted but metal everywhere else. The first time that it rained when we were using the van for sleeping, I discovered that the converter bloke had made an error in positioning the 'female' half of the pop studs for the curtains by positioning them so that the curtain was effectively pinched by the rubber seal when the tailgate was closed - I noticed that the curtain was wet and a pop stud had already started to rust. I replaced the rusty pop stud and liberally slathered them all (and the screw holes) with silicone grease and now fix the curtain to the inner door frame with strong magnets. No problems since. The moral is leave the door frame well alone.

My issue is when sleeping on the rock and roll bed heads at tailgate end, the amount of condensation on the metal is unreal