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Topic: Vent repair and installing Maxxfan (Read 223 times) previous topic - next topic
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Vent repair and installing Maxxfan
11/22/20
Our middle vent above our lounge failed and rain flooded our coach in the last rainstorm. When we removed the vent from the roof we found the vent frame had rusted out under the sealant tape.  There are also some small holes in the roof aluminum where the aluminum had been eaten away. I'm glad we took the whole thing out because it was in really bad shape on the top. We scraped all the old 4" tape, sealant and butyl tape off with the oscillator and cleaned the perimeter up with acetone and removed the all the screws, which were completely rusted. We sanded the corroded areas and sprayed it with a metal primer paint to seal it. Inside the coach we drilled a hole through the side of the vent opening to get to the electrical in the light a few inches away, and wired the power for the new fan.  We used wood glue to glue the perimeter areas where the wood had separated from the ceiling. Then we centered the fan in the opening and connected the wires inside the coach.  On the roof, we ran two strips of 1” butyl tape around the underside of the fan frame because it was so wide and we screwed down the frame to the roof.  We cleaned up any butyl that squished out, covered every screw with lap sealant and ran a thick bead of  lap sealant around the perimeter seam. When the sealant has dried, I will run a 4” aluminum tape/butyl sealant around the perimeter just to give it that extra layer of protection. Inside the coach we first had to cut the flange down to 1.75 deep to fit the hole. We found the frame to be too wide to fit without removing the ceiling brace/handle and moving it over a bit.  Finally, we were able to screw the flange to the ceiling. Now we have a Maxxfan.
After seeing how bad the condition of the middle vent was, we now want to take out and replace the bathroom vent too so it's upgraded to a better fan and sealed really well. 
SoCal-Gal  (Tracy)
1991 26.5 RB
Previous 1988 22’ LD Multi plan
Previous 1992 Six-pack Camper
Spare the sealant, spoil the job.
Travelers: Tracy, spouse Anthony, Coton de Tulear, Gabby and parrotlet, Indigo
 
Re: Vent repair and installing Maxxfan
Reply #1 –
Thanks for sharing!  I have a new to us 2003 and need to replace a very rusted bathroom vent soon.
2003 26.5 Mid Bath, gray. Family of four.