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Friday, June 17, 2016

Summer Update #4

The inevitable progress towards completion continues. Although, the more items I complete, the longer the list becomes? I keep finding more small (but time consuming) things to do.

At the top of my list is fixing the maddening rattling of the Maxxair fan. In the closed position it is quiet when driving under 65mph or when there are no cross winds. However, any substantial cross wind, or high speed driving makes it rattle excessively. My fan has the plastic bushings on the mechanism arms, so this is not the cause. Instead the wind over the van roof causes the top to shake. It’s not much motion, but it makes the rain guard and hardware rattle loudly.

Upon disassembly I discovered three sources of noise. The first is the forward pivot. It is plastic on plastic; some heat shrink tubing fixed this rattle.





The second is contact between the lid and a mounting screw. Some judicious trimming fixed this one.



The third is the aft hinge. This unit has tons of slop and is very poor quality. I pressed the pin out and covered it with heat shrink tubing to increase its diameter. Hopefully this will stop the rattling completely.





I replaced the lower sliding door roller. I was astonished how easy to operate and quite the slider is now! It even latches better!



I have added some insulation to the fridge drip tray. The freezer is not as cold as I would like. Hopefully this will increase the temperature differential between the fridge and freezer.



One of the reading lights is installed.



Finally the over-cab door has been installed. A Blum assist bar keeps it open.





I ordered a Webasto FCF 5000 unit yesterday. After some budget analysis and consideration it made sense. We will likely run it off the batteries occasionally to keep the sleeping area cool/dehumidified at night. When we are driving it can be run from the alternator. It will fit under or behind the bench seat. A radiator, pump, and lines still need to be sourced. One more thing to mount under the van…

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