Fan Life
As I started assembling the materials for installing a roof fan, I began to realize that this was not a trivial installation. Quite a few special tools and materials are needed to do this correctly. Most of the tools I already had, but the sealants needed are unique to RVs or vans. Gooey butyl tape and lap sealant are all about making sure the fan is leak proof. The MaxxAir fan I chose is pretty fancy - it has a motorized top, 10 speeds, bidirectional, and a remote control.
The other non-trivial part is cutting a hole in a vehicle. I’ve never needed to do that before. A little nerve-wracking, for sure. Once I drilled a center pilot hole for the 14” square, I figured there was no turning back. I used a template on the roof to get the corner points, then drilled four more pilot holes. Then enlarged them to 9mm, which is just right for a jig saw blade. With a new Bosch blade, the jigsaw actually just fairly easily, although it did make quite a noise. I stayed mostly on course. That is the worst part of the install.
I taped a garbage bag where the hole will be to catch all of the metal shavings that the drilling and cutting create.
Almost as soon as I got on the roof, I heard thunder in the distance. Which soon became thunder and rain. I quickly removed all of my gear and headed inside to figure out how long the rain was supposed to last. (2 hours)
No chickening out now.
I watched a few install videos, and every person quickly puts the fan base into the freshly cut hole to make sure it fits nicely.
Drilling complete and cutting completed, including the 16 holes to attach the fan base.
The wood frame I built adds support for the attaching screws. Eventually this frame will be hidden by a finishing frame that came with the fan.
I feel like I made several dozen trips up & down today. I actually set my smaller Little Giant ladder against the van. A bit easier to climb on the roof that way.
Done for today. Tomorrow the lap sealant will be cured enough that I can peel the tape off.
This project took a good portion of the day. I started at about 9:00am, but with the thunderstorm delay, it was about 5:30pm before I had everything cleaned up and put away. There are a couple priming and painting steps that needed drying time plus the wood frame adhesive needed some time as well. Tomorrow my plan is to connect the wires to the 12V auxillary plug that is next to the rear doors and see if the fan operates properly. I had already bench tested the fan, so I know it works. I even took it apart and applied silicone conformal coating to the motherboard, to protect against moisture.
What’s next? Maybe flooring, maybe electrical? Or both?