ventilation ideas

ducatobuild

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Im looking for a way to selfbuild [as we have selfbuilt the rest of my van so why stop there, and quite honestly can't afford to buy anyway ].

i am looking for advise, plans, pictures from anyone who has thought about or completed a selfbuilt skylight or sunroof arrangement attached directly to the roof and therefore connected through it as only required to supply ventilation to the kitchen area.on our van convieniently right above the kitchen is a lowered panel ripe for using about the same diameter as a standard glass sunroof is there any reason why i shouldn't do it ?.
General market available ones are to bulky and more imporatntly to dear.
Your input as always is invaluable to us to assist us to proceed to completion of our build.
Yours
Dougie
 
sky lite

why not visit a breakers yard and get a ordinary lift up sun roof they are easy to fit also you will be able to pick one up for a few quid good luck with rest of project
 
Thanks for that mandrake good idea doh why didn't we think of that however fitting it would be beyond me i think don't fancy cutting a big whole in the roof and not getting it to reseal etc i think i would need to get someone pro to do that bit for me that is most defo beyond my talents without a doubt.
I did look locally before but knowone seems to be fitting glass pop out sunroofs anymore i can remember when you could get one fitted for about £99 but now all cars nearly have ac they arent in demand anymore so what is one to do now if you need one ??
For now
Dougie
 
ducatobuild said:
Im looking for a way to selfbuild [as we have selfbuilt the rest of my van so why stop there, and quite honestly can't afford to buy anyway ].

i am looking for advise, plans, pictures from anyone who has thought about or completed a selfbuilt skylight or sunroof arrangement attached directly to the roof and therefore connected through it as only required to supply ventilation to the kitchen area.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you want a miracle there; ventilation but no hole:confused: ;)

Mandrake is right, use a sunroof (flat or slightly curved to suit); they are not difficult to fit, or trim.
If you have come this far with your build you must surely have tackled far more awkward tasks than this??

75619596_bd252a7447_m.jpg


Shower room vent & light on Iveco 35/12. Courtesy of a Ford Fiesta dumped just up the road......Well, I assumed it was dumped, there was an old washing machine in the back & it had been there for weeks. Oh well, too late now
 
Yip your dead right guys im just not sure of my own capabilities and do not wish to cut a great big hole in my roof as ive heard it has to be done with a nibbler ? and not my favorite angle grinder for fear of twisting the metal thus not getting it to seal.
 
the easiest way to be shure about a good fit when refitting the sunroof is to take a piece of card with you when you have removed said sunroof the hole left in the poor old car someonespride and joy once draw round the hole then trasfer to your vans roof cut seal & refit perfik job and a lot of change out of 99QUID!!!!!! ps loathcliffe i bet the door of that old washer would have made a great dome window ha ha
 
God why am i so thick must be my age i reckon or possibly panicking about to many things at once more likely i am going to do as you "My Mentor" has bid me to do and am going to go and have a look at some scrapyards [the only real problem now is where as Scotland has very few where you can go and nose about, mostly now closed and they take all the bits off for you which is good but in this case not so good] but i'm pretty sure with a bit of ingenuity i will workout how to get round this one .
Still not sure about cutting out the roof mind, think i shall need to investigate more before taking the plunge, what would you sugest cutting it with bearing in mind its only a sheet of metal no strengheners or suchlike.
Yours for now
Dougie
 
Hi dougie.
as mandrake said draw a template on stiff card, tranfer it to the roof then drill a 1/2" hole on the 'waste' side of the opening and use a good old jigsaw to cut out the hole. might be worth putting masking tape on the roof first to prevent scratches from the jigsaw.
just cover up the inside of the van as the filings will take forever to get out of your carpets.
a tube of silicon/mastic sealer will take care of the seal.
nibblers are fast but take your time and the results are the same. dont forget to file off the burrs before fitting.
certainly cheaper than a purpose made rooflight and probably tinted to boot!!!

john.

ps try e-bay for a sunroof.
 
mandrake said:
ps loathcliffe i bet the door of that old washer would have made a great dome window ha ha
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Brilliant one Mandrake:D

AND all the modern ones have a time delay on the door opening, that would impress a few:cool:
 
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: hi yep i need to fit vent/sky hatch,,,i can cut the hole,but me roof aint flat its what i call rippled or rib shaped ,,anti vibrasion/strength i sposse,,,so how do you seal it ,,,gasket/seal wont do
 
awkward seal

our side window is on a shaped bit of body so we just used a fat layer of silicon sealant never leaked ,you can trim off excess before its fully dry. use silicon as some of the other sealants dry up when in large thicknesses
 
Yip all good ideas some costly though im still searching for a secondhand sunroof havent had time yet to source the scrapyards but will do shortly however and lastly cant find anyone to do it as still not sure about my own capabilities ive fitted the external mains socket myself, which don't leak i have to say and was done with a mixture of an angle grinder and an electric jigsaw but it was on the side not the top my main faer is water ingress as that is what foiled finally my previous project on my dismountable and resulted in it being sold on ebay at a great loss in the region of £4000 and i do not want to be in that position again i would far rather do without and keep the damn door open than go through all that hastle and wasted money all over again, i know my limitations and i really think they stop prior to cutting a hole in my roof, thanks for the suggestions in all but i would far proffer to get someone locally eg a sunroof fitter to do thor me as once that hole is cut there is no going back.
Yours
Dougie
 
JOHN WEST said:
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: hi yep i need to fit vent/sky hatch,,,i can cut the hole,but me roof aint flat its what i call rippled or rib shaped ,,anti vibrasion/strength i sposse,,,so how do you seal it ,,,gasket/seal wont do
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Hi John

a) You can get sealant on a roll which can be used to build up the 'ribs' to one level ( I used this on a Renault Traffic and it never leaked).

b) You can cut small pieces of plastic at just less than the thickness of the 'ribs' and use with sealant above and below to build up to one level (seen it done by others).
 
ducatobuild

I have fitted several sunroofs and roof vents ,to the bedford cf which have ribbed roof .I used sections off alloy to fill in the gaps,with a good quality sealant all round ,no problems ,cut out with a decent jigsaw.If you are worried about cutting hole wrong,make your pattern and cut out of a piece of old board ,first just to check you have it right.Have you looked on ebay ,some screenfitters do them but not all ,especially if roof is not flat. Go for it just take your time and check every thing over first.good luck.
 
Gary thanks for that, it is of course my own belief that this particular part is beyond my skills, i shall until an alternative can be sourced shall continue to try and find someone to do it for me, one of the real problems i am finding is that knowone seems to fit the older glas type sunroofs anymore seeing as how most cars nowadays seem to have AC fitted so there is no use for them any longer but i will as i'm absolutely determined to will find a fitter somewhere, at least if this bit is carried out proffesionally and it does end up ;eaking i would have some sort of gaurentee on it that could be used to get it fixed as water ingress of any type is not something you would wish to have in a camper.
I therfore continue to look for ways around this dilema
For now
Dougie
 
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