vent cover repair....

**Chuck** · 11-12-2002, 09:10 AM

the vent cover had an opaque plastic center portion, which has degraded and pretty much disintegrated. this was a 9" square piece in the middle of the cover, fastened with rivets. the alluminum frame and outer section of the cover is fine, and I'd like to just rivet something else in the center to replace the sky-light. local big-box hardware store had some sheets of .025 alluminum...wondering if that would be appropriate to make a repair plate. they also had some "annodized alluminum"...what is that?

74Argosy24MH · 11-12-2002, 09:25 AM

Anodizing is a process to protect the surface. It would be better than raw metal, .025 should be heavy enough.

John

**Chuck** · 11-12-2002, 09:55 AM

the "other" stuff was nice and shiny, though...the annodized was kinda "milky" looking...looked like an old oxidized A/S.

74Argosy24MH · 11-12-2002, 10:03 AM

You got it. It is a process to artificially oxidize the surface. Oxidation protects the aluminum beneath.

John

**Chuck** · 11-12-2002, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Oxidation protects the aluminum beneath.

..but it looks like hell. do you think the other stuff would somehow degrade quickly, or lead to problems? it looks nice and shiney, like the rest of the trailer...

davidz71 · 11-12-2002, 11:40 AM

Chuck,
One of the original owners replaced the plastic in all of my vent covers with aluminum sheeting. It looks just like the rest of the trailer and I would not have known it replaced the plastic if someone on the forum had not told me. I did a wrap-under panel replacement behind the curbside wheelwell with aluminum sheeting from Lowe's. It worked great and you can't tell the difference between it and the rest of the panels. I will have to look at the thickness this evening and post it.

74Argosy24MH · 11-12-2002, 11:43 AM

Any bare aluminum is going to corrode, treat it like the rest of the skin and there won't be any difference.

John

Craig · 11-12-2002, 07:18 PM

I have the same vent covers, with the center plastic portion. Is the replacement vent cover the one on InlandRV website that is all plastic?

74Tradewind · 11-12-2002, 07:32 PM

I removed the covers and replaced the bad plastic with Lexan.

Drilled out the old rivets and used long rivets with flat washers and sealant. I did not realize that they were original, I thought someone cut out the covers and put in the skylights.

Ciao, Brian

davidz71 · 11-12-2002, 10:18 PM

Chuck,
The 24" X 48" aluminum sheet was .025" thick. It was available in smaller cut sheets also.

**Chuck** · 11-13-2002, 01:05 PM

Craig from Jersey: Andy told me that the alluminum vent covers were no longer available, so yes, the one's on his site are the replacements.

Brian: that's a good idea; where can you get such material? I wonder what else would be available...plexiglass?

Craig from TN: thanks for the tip; I figured that those sheets would do the trick...they had 12 x18" ones, too. only a few bucks.