Fan-Tastic Vent Installation

Dave Lowrey - WBCCI 5074 - Cincinnati, Ohio

The weekend of September 26th & 27th, 2002, I installed two Fan-Tastic Vents in my 31' 1977 Airstream Sovereign International. These would replace the original front and back vents in the trailer.

I purchased the Model 6000, which has a thermostat to start and stop the fan, three fan speeds, and a motor that raises and lowers the dome. It has a rain sensor that closes the dome when it gets wet, and raises it again once it is dry.  They also make a model without the rain sensor and a basic model without a thermostat or motorized dome.

We installed the vents for two reasons. The first was that we wanted to "boondock" more, and the vents would help keep the trailer cooler in hot weather. The second reason is so we could have the vents open while towing and not have to worry about rain, as the vents automatically close when it rains (and reopen once the sensor dries out).

The installation took about 4 to 5 hours for each vent, of which the vast majority of the time was taken up with the removal of the old vent.

This was not a "hard" job, but it did involve a lot of climbing around on top of the trailer.

I seriously considered taking the Fan-Tastic Vents apart, and spray painting the exterior Airstream Gray (the vents are white on the outside). But in the end I decided not to (much to the agreement of my wife, who thought it was a "bad" idea :-).

View the Photos

Please feel free to E-Mail me at: dave_lowrey@yahoo,com with any comments or questions.

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