Chinook RV

Can't seem to find it now, but thought I had seen a post on removing the roof mounted Winegard TV antenna and installing a patch panel in its place.
Never use the old thing and would like to make room for a future set of solar panels. Wondering how difficult it is, are there any hidden roadblocks and what recommendations would be for a good roof patch panel set up.

I removed mine, but I don't think I wrote about it. No particular gotchas in my case. Basically there are three different things.

1) Larger central hole where shaft goes through (maybe 1-1/4" in diameter.

2) Smaller hole where cable goes through (maybe 1/2" in diameter).

3) Horseshoe of smaller holes where "pointy" screws held base to roof.

Removing was straightforward as I remember it.

I chamfered and then patched the horseshoe of screw holes with neat, then thickened epoxy. These holes are small so don't need patches other than the thickened (with structural filler such as colloidal silica or structural thickener powder). I won't go into detail yet in case you already know epoxy or plan to do something else. This can be gelcoated or painted over after the epoxy has time to cure (I use tape to protect it from UV during this time period, as epoxy is vulnerable to UV).

The two larger holes I thought I would probably use for running solar cables into the rig, so I "temporary long term" patched them with watertight but easily removable patches. These consist of circles cut out of thickish galvanized flashing (bought in ~30" x 36" sheets at Home Depot), and affixed with butyl tape. They have held up incredibly well and no leaking, yet easily removable and a bit of mineral spirits cleans it up without undue hassle.

Here are two photos of the roof after I epoxy filled the smaller holes and "long term temporary" patched the two larger ones. As you can see the epoxy filled holes are completely flush once trimmed (sharp chisel during green stage). The one galvanized patch I have not rolled down yet, so you can see it sticking up slightly. The solar down wire fitting I'm planning to use will fit the original larger hole so there will be no more patch, and then presuming I don't use the smaller/larger hole, I'll patch that as well (for real with fiberglass/epoxy).

The reason I use epoxy resin (as opposed to polyester, with which our rigs were built) is that polyester has poor secondary bonding characteristics, while epoxy has excellent ones. Anything added after the day it was built is a secondary bond (no more chemical linking possible after the resin cures), so that's important. Vinylester would also work well, but I use epoxy a lot for boat repair so have it on hand (and I don't like the smell of the "esters").

Epoxy will also form a primary [chemical] bond, but only while in the green stage (so new work done in layers can be primarly bonded to itself, but will always be a secondary [mechanical] bond to the original substrate, so a good secondary bonding characteristic is important (which polyester is not so good at). Once repaired with epoxy, it's basically as strong/stronger than new.

BG--... Right on! That's exactly the info I was looking for. Many thanks!

I just finished mine today. I used the Antenna base as a template and cut a 1/4" thick plate of aluminum into the same shape, drilled all corresponding holes and then drilled two small holes for my solar cables, put sealer on it and bolted it right back onto the roof.

Glad it's of use. I ran across a couple of more photos.

Here I'm mid-removal. Just shows things after the big crank-up section is removed.
And here is the roof just after removal. You can see that they didn't pre-chamfer the small holes for the screws, so they had "ruffled up" the fiberglass. Hence I chamfered them (and removed any small bits of cracked gelcoat) before filling them with the neat-then-thickened epoxy. BTW the razor blade you can see just at the corner of the below photo is a plastic "razor blade." They are very handy for working on fiberglass or other surfaces you don't want to scratch. This one is orange (the blade). There is also blue and yellow (slightly different properties to the plastic).
And here is the interior of the largest hole (where I will likely run my solar down wires). Shows the fiberglass roof skin, two layers of plywood, then the inner fiberglass skin (which the overhead carpet is attached to). This is the hole where the round "arrow" thingie is in the upper cabinet that has the crank handle in it.
BTW, if you don't have it, I can upload the antenna installation instructions. I used them in reverse to look over the procedure before removing mine.

BTW, kudos to Chinook for using an easily removable sealant (i.e. not silicone and not strong polyurethane).

I'd like to replace it with the newer style king antenna. The kind that shows you signal strength while adjusting from inside. It's not a huge deal, but a little tv sometimes is nice.

Would love to hear from someone who has done the King antenna swap and their review for HDTV use. Our batwing does not get very good reception.