Air Conditioner Bay in front of Casita

[Gerry]

Just picked up a 91 Casita Luxury Traveler, the model that has the air conditioner in the front lower passenger corner.
The cover for the exhaust from air conditioner is a piece of canvas that snaps and runs though an awning rail at the top of this.
It seams that loads of water and road scum an enter this area way to easy.
I inspected bay and it seems to be sealed off good but was wondering if there was a better way to seal the outside so no water can get in???
Did any one do anything?

[floyd]

Be sure that your A/C is draining properly, your problem is more likely an inability to completely evacuate water condensation produced by the A/C itself than a failure to avoid water from an outside source.

[Tom 72]

Hello Gerry, Some pics of the set up might help others reply with suggestions.

[GlassCastle]

I have a 1995 Casita with the A/C in front. It appears the A/C drains into the grey tank. Am I mistaken??? Should I look for a drain hose below the A/C that might be clogged?

[Gerry]

whoa guys, not concerned with the AC draining just the canvass cover that doesn't keep any water out of this space.

[Gerry]

The model is a Freedom Deluxe and I had the air on for about 4 hours today and no problem with the condensation water leaking inside, and cooled just fine, but I'm just not happy on how the front canvass just snaps over the hole and fins on air conditioner shows damage where perhaps something or other may have went though this covering at one time.
Vicki, did you do anything different with this cover?

I can never get photo's to come up on this site. Sorry.

[GlassCastle]

Bought my Casita from a guy who did a lot of work on it.
He bought a new cover from Casita.
Only problem I have is remembering to take the cover down when I use the A/C.

[Gerry]

Vicki, maybe my concerns are unfounded. A previous owner had put in an Auto sun-roof and the thing leak bad. The floor was all rotted and was replaced but when I took the draw out from under the AC. that floor was not replaced. I tore out old wood, replaced it and had to replace body to frame anchor bolt.
I thought maybe this floor damage may have come from that ill fitting canvass cover.
The floor inside this AC venting area is slopped fiberglass and as said after running 4 hours yesterday no dripping inside from AC.
I mostly am concerned with outside weather getting in.

Because of the curve in body at this point, a solid door will not work without extensive work.

Guess I will just sew some new synthetic covers and reposition snaps, and add a few more, so they will seal it a bit better from outside weather.

I did put an old tot cover inside the hole behind the canvass to protect if a rock was to fly up and go through to fins on AC.

[Borrego Dave]

Gerry, a new slightly larger cover may help. Wonder if using Velcro instead of snaps would be a better overall seal. You said you replaced part of the floor, might be an idea to FG over that one, just resin & matting would work as a water sealant along with a drain hole, just in case . Kind of guessing on what you have as I've never had eyeballs on your build. Wish you could post pics.

[Friz]

My '95 Casita had a metal grille in front of the trailer that was pop riveted in place.
I removed it, sanded and painted and replaced it with screws with captive nuts (nutserts) in the fiberglass. This allows cleaning. The replacement AC had a drain connection, so I attached a hose and ran it around to drain out the small bottom intake grille. Water never collected in the space behind the AC.

Is your metal grill missing? The canvas cover worked fine for me keeping out the dirt..
The canvas cover is fastened to the twist fastners on the corners of the front griile.

[Gerry]

I did make larger covers and put in more snaps and it looks a lot better. I've looked into putting a vent cover there but the double curve of the body it would mean building a new wall around it. Think it will just be what it is.
As said the front hole is where the floor is sealed and sloped toward the front but the side, air inlet hole just goes into the side of the camper and you can reach in and go right to the floor and feel the rug on the walls inside. Maybe all the water issues come from this hole so I brought the covering fabric up to just under the belly band and also added a solid rubber "door sweep" along the front edge to keep water from road splash from getting in.
I am sure it is not a 100% water tight fix but it is better.
thanks for all the advise but short of just putting a patch of fiberglass over this 9X9 inch hole there is no way to fix it.
I believe this is a big design flaw in this camper and thus is the reason I will sell it and keep just the Boler.
Thanks for all the ideas and advise.

[Friz]

The Casita factory may still stock those grilles. When I checked on one 3 years ago, it was $129 for the grille and the cover. There is a curve in the grille to match the trailer body. I just used bondo and spray paint to fix mine.

I really liked the front AC, I had 7'6" clearance and could get into many parking garages. Was very quiet, and airflow was good with a small fan (small Honeywell fan frm WalMart) placed near it. People would ask me how can I stand it without an AC, would have to point to it. One RV park that charged more if you had an AC and they missed it.

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by Friz

The Casita factory may still stock those grilles. When I checked on one 3 years ago, it was $129 for the grille and the cover. There is a curve in the grille to match the trailer body. I just used bondo and spray paint to fix mine.

I really liked the front AC, I had 7'6" clearance and could get into many parking garages. Was very quiet, and airflow was good with a small fan placed near it. People would ask me how can I stand it without an AC, would have to point to it. One RV park that charged more if you had an AC missed it.

Tell me was this for both the side and front grill and cover? I did use the AC this past weekend and your right it would need a fan to get the cool air around the cupboard so it would cool down the bed area.

[John in Santa Cruz]

my 16 SD"s A/C cover got torn off on the highway on a particularlly windy day, so I bought a replacement.

the replacement was a loose fit on the existing twist-tab fastners, so I drilled them out, and replaced them with the new ones that were included with the new cover... I filled the old rivet holes with a bit of epoxy filler. Then I drilled and riveted one upper corner fastener, put the top on it, stretched the top across, marked for the other top corner, then drilled and rivetted it, then with the cover on both the new top fasteners, I did the same stretch and mark to drill the bottom corner fasteners, so now the new top is nice and snug.

[Dave Haight]

I own a 16' Liberty Deluxe with same A/C set up. Using Cordura nylon we stitched our replacement and reused the turn button attachment hardware. Self sticking velcro strip along the top edge. Very tight fit.

[Gerry]

Yea, my wife did a wonderful job sewing new covers for the front cover and I sealed the slanted floor real good where it meets the lower part of the wall so any water, either from AC unit or road weather will drain back out front but side hole for the air intake was a bit trickier. She made the cover large enough to come to just under the belly band and I screwed a piece of aluminum door sweep cut to fit height of cover and pop riveted this on the front edge so no water will get in from the top and front. I then put snaps down the back edge and bottom and top. Water may still get in but it will be minimal amounts.