Okay, so I will be the first to admit that I have been a bit slack. We have been super busy and haven’t had a chance to keep the blog posts for our bus build up to date. In saying that…. we have actually just finished the bus (well, almost!) and are now permanently living in it and on the road. I am coming to you live from Eucla, Western Australia where it is warm and sunny! So I thought it was time to write a new post on our RV Roof vent and try to get the rest up to date asap!
So back to the blog post.
As we decided to have gas in our school bus, one of the regulations in NSW was that we had to have a vent with permanent ventilation. We had absolutely no idea what this meant. After a little research, we found a guide for ventilation in motor homes and how much is required for you bus size. Not all vents offer permanent ventilation, and the ones that do offer differing amounts depending on their size.
There is a minimum ventilation area required that depends on the size of your school bus, no matter what appliances are fitted.
So if your bus is –
Up to 4 metres long – you need 240 cm2 of ventilation space
4 to 5 metres long – 300 cm2
5 to 6 metres long – 360 cm2
Over 6 metres long – 420 cm2
These vented areas are to be split in half between the upper vents (such as your roof vent which has to be within 30cm of highest ceiling point) and lower vents (such as the vent in our caravan door, which is within 15cm of the floor).
We decided on the Dometic Mini Hekiplus RV Roof Vent/Skylight, 43-60mm roof thickness with a double glaze cover, to meet these requirements. We already had the vent which came in our caravan door meeting the lower requirements, so just needed one to meet the upper requirements.
The reasons we chose the Dometic Mini Hekiplus RV Roof Vent/Skylight –
Size-
400mm X 400m. We didn’t want one too large for cost, but also so it didn’t take up too much roof space.
Roof Thickness –
There are models designed for two different roof thicknesses available, 0-42mm and 43-60mm. With the thickness of our roof, plus our insulation and pine panelling (we will get to this next post!), we needed a hatch that had a reasonable amount of adjustment to cover the gap between the metal roof and our chosen interior lining.
Double Glaze Cover –
The hatch comes in single and double glaze options. We chose the double glaze cover so we didn’t compromise the insulation in the roof. We didn’t want to insulate the whole roof then add a hatch that didn’t keep the heat out.
Availability –
We needed it ASAP! Not realising that our vents we initially purchased did not have permanent ventilation, and they would not meet the requirements for our gas, we needed it quickly. The gas plumber was already booked and we were done with setbacks, so we were lucky and found this one locally.
How to install your hatch or skylight –
I’m going to cut to the basics and provide a nice easy step by step guide for your install of your RV roof vent. Ours as per usual was anything but easy, so we will try and save you some things we wish we had known!
Step 1
Very important. Cut your hole in your bus roof prior to installing your insulation and roof material! This is why I wrote this part prior to telling you about our roof material we chose. I wish we had done it earlier.
We measured the hole size required for our vent and masked it up. Masking it helps give a nice big line to follow, but also helps to prevent wood and metal from splintering and falling everywhere.
Step 2
Once masked, use a grinder to cut the roof metal, following your masked lines. Easy! Well it will be for you. We had to cut through the metal roof, insulation, and pine paneling. Make sure wherever you decide to place your vent, you do not cut through any of the structural parts of your vehicle. If necessary, call an engineer or someone who can assist you with the placement, just to be safe.
The Toyota Coaster has a metal column that runs up the centre of the bus as well as horizontal beams that run every 90cms. The centre column is fine to cut but you are not allowed to cut the horizontal beams as these make up the roll cage.
Step 3
After you have another big, beautiful hole in your school bus roof, make sure you spray some rust guard or similar. This will help to prevent rust on the metal that has been cut. This will help to prevent rust issues later.
Step 4
It is a good ideas to test your roof vent in the space before you permanently install it. This is quite important as if your hole is a little too small, or something has gone wrong it may be too late to fix if you have already gone to the next step of silicone.
Step 5
Install your roof vent! Silicone around the edge of the top half of your roof vent and place in from the top of the bus. Be mindful to place it the correct way, with the opening facing the back of the bus. We did not do this right… and had to redo it! Once the top half is in, from the inside of the bus attach the second half of the roof vent and click together.
Step 6
Once it is all clicked into place, it is time to screw the two halves together. Now this is where you should keep in mind your roof material and allow space for this. Try not to screw them too tight together. The good thing is, you can always loosen the screws and lower the bottom half later if necessary.
Step 7
The Dometic Mini Hekiplus RV Roof Vent/Skylight comes with a cover that offers an insect screen or a sunlight block out. Attach the metal clips to the cover and push the cover over the bottom half in the roof.
And you’re done!
Hopefully unlike us, you didn’t put it on backwards.
I promise the next post won’t take as long to appear. Until then.
