Vehicles

rv - Replacing broken rear roof fan cover

The rear fan cover was broken from the day I bought the RV. The prior owner had already purchased a replacement opaque white cover that he threw in with my purchase. I am embarassed to say this job took me a couple hours.

For starters, the old cover is rivited in place. So I drilled out rivitets and clean up the upper and lower metal pieces I needed to keep. The new cover was a universal fit cover so there was nothing to indicate where I should drill new holes. I end up measuring, installing one of the two legs, installing it, then just marking the correct placement for the second leg. This required several trips up and down the RV.

Once I knew where the legs should be located, I opted to install tiny nuts and bolts rather than rivites. I threw on a little water pump liquid gasket to seal up the holes. Next problem I ran into was that I needed adhesive backed foam weather striping to seal the cover to the vent assembly body. No problem, quick trip to the hardware store. Too bad I completely underestimated the cavernous size of the gap to fill. The gap has got to be an 1.5 inches. I double up the weather stripping but pulled it too tight in order to get my one roll to go around twice. The next day my foam weather stripping pulled away from the cover due to too much tension.

Back to the store to get even more foam so I could double it up with no tension at all on the foam. While I had everything apart I also removed and cleaned up the fan. It was squeaky before. Now it doesn't make any squeaking noises, but the fan motor is still pretty corroded on the inside. Not sure how long my cleaning job will hold.

In the end, I am happy to have the cracked cover replaced. The new one looks great. If I were to do it all over again though, I might just replace the entire fan assembly with a unit with a modern one that has better sealing capability. And if I ever had to do this job again, say for the front fan, that is exactly what I will do because I have absolutely no idea where or in what year the prior owner got the replacement plastic fan cover. I haven't seen another cover like that anywhere.

Pictures

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SmllMedLrg
rear fan cover was cracked in half. Previous owner coverd in tape to keep water out
SmllMedLrg
front cover is very worn and slightly cracked. Its clear translucent though, which I like
SmllMedLrg
replacement cover
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no pre-drilled holes
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GMC motorhome apparently used Hammond Mfg Model SD-102-17 fan from the factory
SmllMedLrg
interior shroud removed
SmllMedLrg
pretty slick system for raising and lowering the cover
SmllMedLrg
at some point the plastic part broke and someone replaced it with a piece of wood and wood screws
SmllMedLrg
even though one side is now wood rather than plastic, it works fine. No complaints here
SmllMedLrg
original fan with outer cover removed
SmllMedLrg
this cover is toast
SmllMedLrg
the plastic is sandwiched between two pieces of metal joined with rivites
SmllMedLrg
drilled out the rivites
SmllMedLrg
installed on new cover and added some water pump liquid gasket to keep water out
SmllMedLrg
new cover attached on one side, ready to mark hole locations for other side
SmllMedLrg
yeah, one layer of foam is not nearly enough
SmllMedLrg
had to double up the foam to get contact with fan surround when cover is closed
SmllMedLrg
my ceiling looks like garbage. That is a project for another day
SmllMedLrg
new cover installed, time to remove noisy fan
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this is before any cleaning, after cleaning the fan does work without squeaking
SmllMedLrg
just documenting ceiling material construction so I can replace it in the future
SmllMedLrg
While I was up there I noticed a model number on the awning, Travel-Awn Series 2000. Maybe OEM
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New cover installed. Looks pretty good
SmllMedLrg
And just in time for a good rain

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