Vent Covers

[MDL]

I've seen folks use roof vent covers for years, but I'm not entirely sure why. Is it just to keep out debris and rain, or are there other benefits? I like seeing the sky, but realize if I put a vent cover on I will only see white. Does it provide more light at all?

[Clemson1881]

They enable you to open the vents if it rains. You can choose translucent, smoked, or solid white. All will reduce light.

[davidaf]

One it keeps the weather out while allowing me to vent but more importantly it gives me a bit of protection from the vent lid snapping off. My SOB was on my lot in Mexico a couple years ago. While we were gone for a few months the vent cover snapped off. Not sure if we forgot and left it open making it a sail or if the wind got under it (we get some nasty wind down there). With our luck it rained, not much but enough to leave a trace. That plus the extra sand coming through the now open skylight made a big ol mess. Now I put them on every vent.

[bigskyjimmy]

Living here in the NW where it rains a lot(DUH) you have to have them because in our bedroom and over the shower in the hallway we leave the vent open a little 24/7 to cut down on moisture you create when you sleep/shower which brings Mildew

[Bigsky3625RE]

quote:Originally posted by bigskyjimmy

Living here in the NW where it rains a lot(DUH) you have to have them because in our bedroom and over the shower in the hallway we leave the vent open a little 24/7 to cut down on moisture you create when you sleep/shower which brings Mildew

We too are in Washington state and do the same thing. We run the fan in the living area most of the time on about 25% to cut down on moisture.

Highly recommend getting them.

[1retired06]

We lived in Arizona years ago, before they had vent covers. The vent lids exposed to the sun cracked quickly requiring replacement periodically. In fact, I replaced our plastic vent lids with metal ones and don't know if they even make the metal lids anymore.

[bncinwv]

We have four fantastic vent fans on the roof of the new rig (did not specifically order but we got them!). The rear one sits immediately adjacent to the rear air conditioner and appears to be so close that a vent cover may not be possible. Simply put, if you want them, you may want to wait to take delivery of your rig and go up on the roof and make sure they will fit. We are still trying to figure out how to do it.
Bingo

[MDL]

A few of these I've never thought of. I also live in the greater Seattle area, but somehow I thought that the Montanas won't sweat at all, or so I was told. Leaving the vent open a tad, and dealing with the shower humidity are both reasons. As Bingo said I'll wait for the trailer to arrive, then go pick a few up.

One more question, is there a preference to style? I've seen two different types at CW, one with a vertical back, and one that slopes and appears to allow a fan. Do both work equally well?

Oh, and Bingo, give all the comments/suggestions you've made on the forum and the oodles of mods you've already done, I'm sure you'll figure out a trick or two to get that rear cover on the rig!

[Art-n-Marge]

Hi Mark. I have both styles. I prefer the sloped ones since I've camped in bad windy or rainy weather and the sloped ones seem to keep more blowing sand or rain out better than the vertical ones. The trailer came with the vertical ones and I added the sloped ones - I guess they were too cheap to install all of them.

When things get real bad I close the vents with the vertical slants and have left the vents with the sloped covers. One of these days I'll swap out the vertical ones, since I only added covers for the vents that did not have them at all out of the factory.

For the covers, I went the cheap route and didn't get the ones with fans. I didn't feel the need and I didn't want to worry about running 12v wires. Plus those little fans can be loud and I have enough fan noises in my rig (furnace, kitchen Fantastic fan, A/C and the bathroom fan). Your wallet and need may vary.

If we feel the need to see the sky, we use this as a reason to get up and walk outside.

[bncinwv]

Another note to follow up on what Art is saying. If you have fantastic fans, you will probably want to get the covers that allow for the fan lids to open completely, since the fantastic fan lids open automatically. The smaller vent covers interfere with the fantastic fan lids and prevent them from opening fully.
Bingo

[bigskyjimmy]

MDL, you bet they sweat, I have been fulltiming here in western Wa for 3 years now and the worst place we get mildew is the closets and below the bedroom window so we crack the vent AND put DRI-EZ in the closets and one next to the bed below the window and that does the trick, we do not seem to get any in the living area except of course the windows

[Art-n-Marge]

Oh yeah, I live and camp in the dry climates of the Southwest and even I have to think about sweating. I had a smaller rig that sweat all the time. The Monty isn't as bad but I think it's because it's WAY larger interior and better air flow helps.

The covers help with being able to keep the vents open even when the weather sucks, but we still close ALL the vents while enroute.

[MDL]

That's great input everyone, thank you!!!!

I do have the fantastic fans, so I'll make sure it will clear. I was surprised to hear they sweat that much in the NW, not surprised I guess, just not what I was told. The first trip after delivery is in March to Fort Worden, so I'll have to get them on before that. The last 5th had a lot of moisture it in up at the park, so we cracked the vents but didn't have vent covers. Needless to say the wind drove in some water, but didn't break the cover at least. I didn't consider that either until now.

I'll wait to see what arrives in February then run to the store and get the sloped covers if they'll fit. Of course I want to go get them now, I'm just too darn excited waiting for the trailer to get here and want to have a lot of the improvement lined up and ready to install.

Again, thanks for all the great input! It's been a lot of fun reading through all the posts on the forum. There's so much information and experience here it's great...but then again you all know that already!!!