7. It's not the heat that gets you, it's the humidity...

 I've already dropped a few spoilers to this update in other posts, because this job was started while I was working on a few others. Such is the nature of building a camper. Today I'm proud to announce the first of (at least) 3 fans/vents have been installed, and this one is the biggest.

It's by a company called MaxxAir, and this model is the MaxxFan Deluxe. This post isn't a how-to guide to installation, there are a lot of free videos online that can guide you through the process, so this won't go deep into details.

First I drilled 4 holes at the corners of the intended hole area.

Then, after triple checking, the hole was cut with a jigsaw.

I drew a line outside the area where I intended to seal the fan to the roof. (It's faint, but it's there!)

Then I built up layers of butyl tape until the mounting area was one consistent level when compressed from above. That black cloth is my tee shirt, I was so glad I was skinny enough to fit through the 35cm hole!

This means the roof flange for the fan unit could be stuck down to the butyl tape. Note the two floating outside edges... these will be addressed later.

And the fan can be test fit in place...

On the inside we can see everything is sitting where it should be. But in order to mount everything on the roof securely, we need to make a wooden ring for the inside of the hole that was cut, for the roof flange to screw into. 

I used scrap pine that came with the van... it's very rough wood, but it will live inside the roof, so no one will ever see it once the ceiling goes up.

The wooden ring was glued and screwed, so despite appearances it's very strong. A friend held it in place while I sent screws down through the fan mounting and the roof to pull it up into place.

Once that was done I test fit the garnish ring on the inside. This sits below the level of the ceiling and covers up everything neatly. The garnish ring fits well and looks nice, but is the wrong colour for the intended aesthetic. So...

I remove the ring again and paint the wood with a sealer undercoat with mildew and mould additive, to protect against anything growing in the dark.

Then I replaced the garnish ring again. Back up on the roof, I could see two gaps that needed to be filled/supported, so I cut two strips of hardwood to size and painted them with clear acrylic.

They were from a piece of scrap that had been laying around getting rained on for years, and I was amazed at how beautiful the grain looked when the clear went on.

These wood pieces were put in place under the two outside edges of the roof flange, then everything was slathered in silicone. I didn't even try to be neat... the roof is about 10 feet high, so no one is going to be standing around judging it (except maybe you!) This pic was taken before the mounting screws were put in and covered over with Sikaflex 221.

Once the area was cleaned up and the lid of the fan was washed, this was the result-

Another smaller fan (a 'MaxxAir Dome') will be installed up the front in the wet room, so air can flow in through the big fan and out through the smaller one (I may install 2, I haven't decided yet). Airflow is critical in a camper to avoid humidity/moisture/rust/mould, so having these fans will keep the hot air venting out, and cool air flowing in.

See you next time!