The third and last vent is in!  It was very challenging due to the wind trying to blow me off the roof.  I must say I love having that AC off.  The old pictures with the AC already look funny to me.

Now that the AC is out and the original vents replaced, three of the major leaks seem to be fixed!  There are still a few leaky items to work on:

• curb-side front window, need to reseal
• a rivet above the front road-side window?
• water comes in the water intake, normally it would drain into the water tank.  This doesn’t seem right and I have no key for it. Replace?
• gaskets in rear lights (not leaking since I sealed them, but would be good to do)

Other items on the punch list before insulating

• replace the curb-side running light that fell off
• seal interior seams
• trim vent screws
• have Fletch look at awning anchors
• rewire exterior lights?
• remove and re-seal running lights?
• fix door and porch lights?

Supply list:

• Sikaflex 721 and 221
• bigger trouble light – it gets so dark so early now

I installed the front Fantastic vent yesterday.  The translucent white lid of the front one and the clear lid of the middle one that replaced the AC look funny when open, but I’m still happy with the decision.  The original vent in the back is removed and the hole squared off.  When I finished prepping the hole, the weather was pretty threatening and it was getting on supper time, so I didn’t get to finish installing the last vent.  I’ll take some pictures on the next round.

I didn’t find a sky light I liked, so I bought a Fan-tastic vent with a clear lid and no fan.  I installed it yesterday.  So far, I am VERY happy with it.  I can see the blue sky and clouds floating by.   I hope the leaks in this area are gone now!

The Fan-tastic vents I bought to replace the original vents do have fans and low-profile translucent white lids.  I spent most of today getting the front vent removed (and yes that is a cork in the antenna hole – something else I have to look into).

Exterior aluminum skin repair, check.  Thanks again to Frank for the pre-cut sheet and to Craig for being on the buck end.  I trimmed the original hole and drilled through Rosie’s skin and bucked solid rivets, and no major catastrophe happened.  This hole will have a sky light, but I tried out the new Fan-tastic vent replacement and it fit perfectly.  I still need to order a sky light.

Clecos in place after drilling out the holes

I got my new clecos all goopy using up a tube of Sikaflex 721.  Frank said to use a lot and I did, but I cleaned up the mess that oozed out.  Craig and I did a G-R-E-A-T job bucking the rivets.  They looked almost as good as Frank and Steve’s.  The sun was sliding down behind Snyder Hill before I got the picture taken of the newly installed aluminum so it’s a bit dark.

You can read about the air conditioner removal in previous posts.

Frank sent me the pro-offered aluminum piece to cover the over-sized poorly done air conditioner hole and  old rivet holes.  He kindly pre-drilled the rivet holes and pre-cut the standard 14 inch hole.   Thanks Frank!

I prepped the trailer roof (cleaned again, ragged pieces cut or bent down) and gathered my supplies/tools for this project

• rivet gun, bee hive spring, and machine tool tester from Avery Tools
• modified 1/8-5/32 rivet set, 5/32 aluminum rivets and black clecos from VTS
• Sikaflex 721  sealant from Airstream
• my handy dandy Makita portable drill and a #20 drill bit
• air compressor (15o psi 6 gallon pancake)
• clamps for securing the aluminum sheet (and test pieces)

Since I have never bucked solid rivets before, I decided to practice some before marring Rosie or Frank’s piece.  I drilled some holes in 2 layers of aluminum flashing  and put some  clecos in to hold them together.  The trailer roof and new aluminum roof piece are thicker than the flashing pieces, but still good for practice.  I did a few on my own, then had Craig do the bucking while I did the gun two handed and by-golly, the last couple didn’t turn out half bad.  I started out with the psi at 90 and that was too high even though recommended for that gun and rivet size, 75-80 psi seemed better.

Tomorrow I’ll drill the rivet holes in Rosie’s roof using Frank’s piece as a template, securing with clecos as I go so the holes stay true. Then I’ll put sealant down and get Craig to help me buck the rivets.  Robin, if you’re out there, keep you fingers crossed from me.