Little Roof Vent

[Denise Jones]

I have a 1976 Scamp that I have been working on......duh
Wish I could replace the original dented up vent cover.
I do not want to cut a new hole and enlarge to current size but the original is 7".
Has anyone ever found a place that sells these?
Also is there a larger plastic vent cover that is glued or caulked over older vent without riviting through roof?

[tractors1]

Originally Posted by Denise Jones

I have a 1976 Scamp that I have been working on......duh
Wish I could replace the original dented up vent cover.
I do not want to cut a new hole and enlarge to current size but the original is 7".
Has anyone ever found a place that sells these?
Also is there a larger plastic vent cover that is glued or caulked over older vent without riviting through roof?

Use 3MVHB tape for your vent cover - might try reworking a cake pan as a vent cover.


https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Daddios-P...gateway&sr=8-4

[Denise Jones]

Scamp ingenuity at it's best!
Great idea.
Thanks

[RogerDat]

Amazon sells the 3M VHB tape. I have an awning track attached with it, been fine in some pretty strong winds with a 7 x 9 awning and so far holds a 12 x 10 fine in non-storm conditions.

I use the small awning when I expect a storm to reduce the wind load. Also the small is a cheap poly tarp that can get wrecked, the larger is a nice nylon tarp I want to not see damaged.

Check out semichrome polish. Maybe clean first with nevr dull but the semichrome does a great job of shine and leaves a protective coat so it doesn't tarnish as fast. Real auto parts stores will sometimes carry it. https://www.amazon.com/Simichrome-39.../dp/B0002YUQ4E

You might eventually want to look into a fantastic fan for that vent. Small camper gets lots of air flow comfort with a power roof vent. Requires a larger opening, power is near the roof opening inside the overhead cabinets of kitchen.

[thrifty bill]

The new replacement vents are actually 9 inch and are all plastic. I bet your 7 inch vent is actually 9 inches.

Many reviews on the new ones say they are JUNK. Meanwhile, the old ones with the aluminum lids are very well built IMHO. I'd do all I could to straighten/smooth out your old one. I have an original one on my 1977 Trillium. Odds of the new one lasting that long? Zero. So I am doing all I can to keep the old one going.

Here's a common review of the new ones: "This vent is absolute garbage. Just trash. I have completely rehabed a 1988 palomino TXL hardwall. Everything was replaced. Before we left this vent popped off the "hinge". I put parentheses because calling this contraption a hinged vent is like calling a pop top soda can a gullwing door. Popped it back and the first bump we hit on the highway you could see the lid shaking."

[getaway1]

Google a 9"x 9" vent and you will find some that way. Mine came from Texas . It's plastic and fits well over the old roof flange and is sealed with butyl tape. I used screws on mine but rivets would work too. Be sure to place the hinge at the front so wind will not lift it traveling. Duane p.s. any existing holes must be sealed with epoxy before any new holes are drilled where needed.

[RogerDat]

The reason I suggested the fantastic fan is at $118 for a basic 1200 3 speed model vs replacing with a $25 to $30 regular vent I tend to think the labor is a bigger factor than the part.

Still I will file away those 9x9 vents since most vents I had seen run closer to 13.5 or 14 inches. Doing that much work makes buying a power fan vent make more sense.

If nothing else the modern flat twist handle from those 9x9 vents would be less "in your face" than the hanging chain of an older Scamp aluminum vent. Not to mention if the lid fits snug the 40 year old spring has a hard time getting it to open. I ended up with a piece of coat hanger wire in the overhead cupboard to give an assist push to get the lid started.


I think some of the fans suggest a powerful sealer adhesive for installation in their directions. I personally like Butyl tape over any adhesive sealer. Sooner or later it has to come apart and butyl tape works well and for a long long time. Then removes easily.

[Roamer]

I just put one of these in.
I needed room for solar panels so got rid of Superfan as this one is more narrow.

Etrailer Dot Com

It does not move as much air as the 14 inch superfan, but it does move some air. It is reasonably quiet.

I used some aluminum sheet metal and just taped it over the 14 inch hole with Eternabond tape (on ebay) , but cut the hole in it first.

[thrifty bill]

Somewhat interesting, I can get a 7 inch computer fan that moves about twice the air as the fan above. Still nowhere near what a Maxxfan moves, but it is cheap and will fit on top of the screen on my existing vent.

This fan on Amazon moves 220CFM.

Maxxfan rated at highest output at 900CFM. So the computer fan is about 1/4 the output. I'm guessing the computer fan would be like running the MAXXFAN at a lower setting. On my Escape 19 which has a Maxxfan I never run it above about half. The Trillium is so much smaller, maybe the computer fan will be OK.

Axial fan volume moved at a set speed varies with the radius squared. So lets say the Maxxfan has 12 inch fan blades, and the 7 inch fan has 6 inch blades. 6 squared divided by 3 squared is 36/9 = 4 times the air moved. Its actually moving air at the radius of the opening, but this estimate is OK. What this means you are NOT going to get the same flow out of a smaller fan, and it makes a bigger difference than some might think.

https://www.amazon.com/GDSTIME-170mm...gateway&sr=8-4

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Denise Jones

I have a 1976 Scamp that I have been working on......duh
Wish I could replace the original dented up vent cover.
I do not want to cut a new hole and enlarge to current size but the original is 7".
Has anyone ever found a place that sells these?
Also is there a larger plastic vent cover that is glued or caulked over older vent without riviting through roof?

It's probably 9" X 9", and this one is plastic, but you can change the cover only, I think...
9" X 9" are very hard to find and not a big choice.
You can search on vintage site in the internet to find aluminium cover but it can be very hard to find.
I have found a plastic kit on this site :
https://www.amazon.com/Hengs-17511-C.../dp/B0027XEKMW

For the plastic cover I had the same problem with my old Bigfoot 1986, and I have used one 14" like this one :
https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Vents-an...00-933066.html

and do like this :

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/registry/2902/

Excuse my english.

[Roamer]

Originally Posted by thrifty bill

Somewhat interesting, I can get a 7 inch computer fan that moves about twice the air as the fan above. Still nowhere near what a Maxxfan moves, but it is cheap and will fit on top of the screen on my existing vent.

This fan on Amazon moves 220CFM.

Maxxfan rated at highest output at 900CFM. So the computer fan is about 1/4 the output. I'm guessing the computer fan would be like running the MAXXFAN at a lower setting. On my Escape 19 which has a Maxxfan I never run it above about half. The Trillium is so much smaller, maybe the computer fan will be OK.

Axial fan volume moved at a set speed varies with the radius squared. So lets say the Maxxfan has 12 inch fan blades, and the 7 inch fan has 6 inch blades. 6 squared divided by 3 squared is 36/9 = 4 times the air moved. Its actually moving air at the radius of the opening, but this estimate is OK. What this means you are NOT going to get the same flow out of a smaller fan, and it makes a bigger difference than some might think.

https://www.amazon.com/GDSTIME-170mm...gateway&sr=8-4

I think you left a whole lot of variables out. Simply, the little motor on the little computer fan is not doing the work of a bigger motor.

The Etrailer fan is more powerful, and should move more air than any computer fan. It blades have a more aggressive angle of attack which means faster air speed.(the blades are actually a drum fan, not a propeller). The bigger motor means as the air speed increases there is enough power to keep pushing the air. The computer fan has a slight angle of attack and is meant to move air across something a few inches away and use little power to do it.

Computer fans are great for inside to move air and be very quiet and not use much power. I use them when I only need a little bit of air flow while sleeping.

You can have a tiny fan move a lot of air, this is what a jet engine does, but it is easier to move air through a bigger opening. Unfortunately, we do not have a big opening to work with in this instance.

[RogerDat]

I would not assume that the opening in the older scamp is 9x9 my 1977 I don't think it is simply because the rivets through the hull are not that far apart, and the flange they go through is outside the opening.


I can measure this evening to be certain but If I was cutting to get to 9x9 I would cut to the larger standard size. Use an unpowered or powered fan as finances dictated. Either way larger vent is more air flow.


Probably a larger selection in the 13.5 or 14 inch vents.

[Lynn Eberhardt]

You might be able to get the dents out if the cover is aluminum. I discovered if I ran old aluminum cookie sheets through the self clean cycle in an electric oven, the heat/cool cycle annealed the aluminum. The burned on grease was gone and I could smooth out all the dents with my thumbs. It might just work.