Chinook RV

Ah, now that's certainly visually reasonable. Thanks for the pic!

I don't have a roof air-con, or anything else on my roof except for a couple flat-ish vent lids and flat solar panels (on tier 2), so in my case a big vent cover would stand out pretty badly (to my eye), which is not to suggest that my rig is a "looker". Also, I find myself fairly remote with plenty of tree branches trying to eat my lunch, so the lower profile is better for me, and the fewer thin plastic stuffs I have up there, the better. I definitely hear you about the rain though. On warm rainy nights, circulation is coveted.

One other thing.... I've never had any wind noise. For some strange reason, my aircon hole is forward of yours probably a foot or more. And the factory vent is back between the stove/sink.

Scott wrote:
One other thing.... I've never had any wind noise. For some strange reason, my aircon hole is forward of yours probably a foot or more. And the factory vent is back between the stove/sink.

I think that last bit is the key. When I contacted Fantastic Vent, and spoke to Jerry (this was back in the good old days and he'd been there for ages and "seen it all"), he said that they often had trouble with wind noise on any RV where the Fantastic Vent was located near the front. They built little dams and tried various things, but ultimately it's better just not to have it so far forward. By the way, I had already duct taped the heck out of everything on top, just to make SURE there was no wind leaking in (although the lid seals tightly, so I didn't really think there was; but just for the sake of thoroughness). No change at all. The next thing I did (to make sure it wasn't just wind hitting something else/the overcab/etc. was throughly tape off the inside, around the opening and the garnish, with 1/2" rigid foam insulation. Bingo, noise gone. So I now knew for sure it was the vent (and then my phone conversation with Jerry confirmed it).

I could move the FV back to the Air-con hole, but it is nice having it forward for sucking in cool air at night, since the door, window openings, and bathroom vent are all aft. Also, I typically sleep head aft, due to the perennial rear "perkiness," and I like to gaze out the Air-con skylight. Looking through a FV is just not the same.

I'd say I had 50% wind noise reduction when I cut down a vent hood to about 50%. But it was still pretty fugly, didn't completely get rid of the noise, and I couldn't open the vent lid all the way. Boo!

So last week I removed the original, high-profile vent surround (time to re-bed it anyway after 15+ years), and installed one of FV's low profile frames. This is the same functionality but just a bit more hangs down inside, and less on the roof (it's just flush with the roof carpet, then the knob hangs down 3/4" or so, but the light just aft of it already hangs down that far anyway).

Then, for the ultimate in "low," I put a clear flat lid on it. Yesterday I went for a little 500 mile test drive. Results are that there is still wind noise, but it's reduced by about ... oh, 65% or so. Better! My next experiment will be to re-install the clear domed lid on the low-profile base (even thought the domed lid sticks up more, the flat lid is less rigid so maybe that's a thing), and after that I may try a deflector piece in front again. It should be easier to "deflect" over a ~2-1/2" hump (low profile vent) vs. the stock 5-1/4" hump (high profile base and domed lid). So maybe just a small fiberglass thing, vs. 50% of a giant cover.

I think you'd like the low-profile base, Scott - I can't even see it from the ground

Kdarling: The sliding windows look modern and all, but I dearly miss the jalousie windows from a previous trailer. I didn't have to close those unless there was practically a full on hurricane, and no rain came in. Nice when inside during rainy weather, but equally nice when setting off for a hike and wondering "hmm, should I leave the windows open? Is it going to rain?" The answer is always "not a problem" with the jalousie windows. If I ever got new windows in the Chinook, I'd look into getting a jalousie section vs. the sliders. They are also handy for knowing if someone is prowling around outside at night. They give themselves away when they cry out after impaling themselves on the edges of the open jalousies

Blue~Go wrote:Say could you comment on a couple of things?

1) How sturdy is the flange that you put the screws through? Not in terms of it breaking, but it drives me nuts how they bulge up between the screws (and I had a very hot day so the butyl was not rigid at all). I ended up using 1/8" aluminum bar stock on top of the flange, but still... geesh.

2) Since it looks like the vent is almost flush with the garnish on the inside.... is it fairly low profile above the roof? Would you mind measuring next time you're up there? (distance from roof to top of dome).

BTW, the low-profile Fantastic with the flat lid is only 2-1/2" off the roof (to the top of the lid!). Looow.

Finally got around to measuring. It's slightly curved and the top is 4". I balanced a wooden ruler on the lid and measured. No where near that low-profile Fantastic for sure. The flange screws hold in very tight. They didn't line up with the old holes so I guess it got a good bite. The flange is against it good but I think not too tight to cause a crack on bumps.