Extra Fiamma Vent

Motorhomes mostly ALL fall down badly in the area of upper ceiling ventillation - pop top versions don't have this problem obviously. One roof ventilator in this country of ours is really a bit inadequete don't you think? Now the Freeway and all Leisure Seekers very thoughtfully come as standard with a very good Jensen rangehood fitted with a light plus a fan ventilating directly outside. Nevertheless things can get a bit on the warm side up there in the galley and the last thing we need is a motorhome full of cooking smells. There are lots of top quality vents on the market in Australia and we will give you a bit of a run down here just in case you haven't come across them. The ONLY reason we went with the Fiamma is we only intended keeping the Freeway 5 years and we felt it better to keep it looking pretty standard by matching the Fiamma already fitted by the factory. In our view it looks a bit old fashioned and very colonial! So far as we can see there is nobody in Australia making vents - why is this folks?

Omnistor Vents

This brand is synomonous with electric steps on motorhomes. Their vents are an absolutely top product made in Belgium and sold in Australia by Aussie Traveller the famous awning people - fitted to almost all Winebago's. They are a highly regarded product and you regularly come across them in the top Swagman motor homes for instance. In our view these vents stand out from the rest simply because of the more intelligent installation method used. They are CLAMPED into the roof and don't use screws. This markedly minimises potential leak points - so important on motorhome roofs. As well as ordinary vents they have full fan, and for bathrooms one with a smaller fan. We have visited Aussie Traveller and seen them in the flesh and the quality is superb.

Jensen Vents

There are possibly more Jensen vents installed in RV's than any other brand - made in the USA. Why this is so is beyond us as they are the noisiest on the market both when opening or closing and in windy conditions. In our view they are a product well past their sell by date and need a drastic dose of re-engineering! However, they are cheap and you can buy them everywhere BUT try and buy a smoked cover as a spare part and you might be in for a wee shock! Some parts are designed to break such as the opening handle - a great little earner for the manufacturer though.

Fantastic Fan

This is a wonderful product made by one of the most caring companies we have ever come across. A quick scan of RV message boards brings up stories of free spare parts after 10 years of ownership. Now these aren't isolated instances. The service even extends to Australia. The last one we bought had the closed cell gasket and screws "missing". A quick email to Fantastic in the States, a response from no less than the Vice President and we had the bits plus a free T-Shirt in four days. Now is that service or what? So why is this fan so different? Easy - it automatically closes as soon as a few drops of rain fall. Clever stuff and a boon to anyone with pets. You can leave them inside whilst you are away with the vents open. It if rains they shut automatically and even open again when it stops. They also have a huge 3 speed inbuilt fan which you can set to come on as the temperature rises etc. as it has a built in thermostat. Maximum draw is 3.00 amps but on low it is a very manageable 1.86 amps. The fan automatically turns off when you lower the vent. OK you say, what happens if my battery is flat and it starts raining? No problem - you can override all controls manually.

Rubber Roofs

You DO need to learn about the mechanics of your Winnebago roof BEFORE you attempt any DIY work at all on it, no matter how simple. It is the most water critical area in any motorhome. We suggest you wade through Phreds Poop Sheet on Runbber roofs as well. Most Winnebago's have a Dicor EPDM rubber roof made in the USA. The idea behind this is to have a continuos unbroken sheet covering the roof - a great design concept that works really well as it truly is seamless.

We don't pretend to be RV experts. We could find nothing on Dicor's site detailing accelerated aging tests and resistance to UV. This is always done on even common surface coatings in Australia. In our view Australia has a much harsher climate than the USA. Common sense tells one that Dicor needs to look at developing a better synthetic material, as the existing product whilst it works, does have drawbacks. It is dreadfully hard to clean and always seems to look a little on the dirty side (we work looking out over the roof of our motorhome, so we tend to notice this far more than others!). Mould seems to be magnetically attracted to Dicor! Under solar panels is a real problem area. Of course part of this problem lays at Winnebago's feet as the roof design in the area of fall with the Freeway and ALL the Leisure Seekers is dreadfull. It is COMPLETELY flat. Now even the cheapest caravan stopped doing that years ago. At the very least they could slope it a little to stop all the pooling that goes on when it is parked on a level surface. Our current Leisure Seeker has one of the most sloppily applied roofs we have ever come across.

Rubber is a relatively old fashioned material and doesn't work too well with modern adhesives and sealants such as the industry leading Sikaflex. A quick read of the Dicor site or Phred's Poop Sheet, explains all this and emphasises that you must only use buttly based sealants. Winnebago sell the self levelling Dicor type in Australia for around $22.00 a cartridge. Interestingly on a quick ring-a-round we couldn't find a dealer stocking this and we asked them what they used. The most popular ones were Sikaflex 252 and Polyurethane Sealant 10.03. We emailed Sikaflex in Australia for their recommendations and are still waiting for a reply a year later! The photo below shows a factory installed vent after just 6 months. This is on a motorhome kept under shelter at all times bar when touring. To us at least this is not good and this sort of cracking does not occur using modern sealants of the polyurethane type. We sought the advice of the "old hands" on the Motorhomes Australia Delphi Forum and the overall view was use Sikaflex BUT make certain that the surface is scrupulously clean by using a nail brush and soapy water and to dry using clean compressed air. The general view was if you want leaks, use buttyl sealants as used to happen years ago in the caravan indusrty.

Our first attempts at using Sikaflex WITHOUT this advice were a total disaster as the edges all curled up! We reached a compromise with our roof sealing. We clean the area to hospital standard using soapy water and a nail brush, use closed cell gaskets with NOTHING either side, seal all screw holes with 10.03 and caulk the outer edges with the Dicor Buttly. We feel in doing this we aren't going against Dicor's or Winnebago's recomendations, so in theory at least shouldn't run into warranty problems. Be aware though if you go down a similar road you do so at your own risk so to speak as we certainly haven't had the green light on this. Anyone with other ideas please email us so we can add you contribution to the pool of knowledge.

Fitting the Fiamma Vent

The photo below shows the installed vent. We put it midway between the bathroom and the kitchen cupboards in our 1743 Freeway. Length wise we put it midway between the ceiling join and the bed curtain track. This avoided all frame members in the roof. Be aware that Winnebago could easily change the location in yours so please check. A very simple way to find out where the frame is in your RV is to take photos of all surfaces on a very very cold foggy morning. The frame stands right out! If you retrofit airconditioning it is usually fitted into the existing Fiamma vent hole. It is a good move to askk your installer to refit it somewhere else in your roof.