Thoughts on forward mushroom vent placement?

[abrightwell]

Hey Everyone,

I was curious if any of you had thoughts on placing the forward mushroom vents higher than the 18″ specified in the manual?

I’ve seen other posts where some have placed them on Panel #2 and I think one did it on Panel #3. I’m not against those options but thinking that if I do go with the Panel #1 that I’d like to have them a bit higher. The reasons are 1) like some I don’t want to block them with bedding or a pillow, etc. and 2) I am working on an adapter to connect my air conditioner unit to these and don’t want to block or have the cold air blowing directly on my head.

My concern is that by moving much further up, the curvature of the shell is going to make it harder to create a good seat for the vent to seal, etc.

My other thought is to just forego the forward vents all together and just use the standard adapters on Panel #3 on one side and connect the AC that way.

At any rate, any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Adam

[Dan]

In doing my non-standard top hatch, I learned that a bit of an epoxy fillet will fill the gap nicely if you want to mount on a curved surface. If you want your part to release after the fillet cures then you can carefully cover it in packing tape, which the epoxy won’t stick to. Just be careful to make sure the part will be able to pull straight out without getting caught on anything. My hatch has an extruded aluminum frame which was bent into shape at the factory. The bending caused the corners to flare out very very very slightly. This was enough to lock it in place when the fillet cured around it. I had to do some careful hammering to knock it out. If I was to do it again, I would probably buy a pack of big Post-it notes to cover the surface with a couple layers of paper (for spacing and easy removal) and THEN a layer of packing tape.

Good luck!

[western_flyer]

Here are my thoughts and a bit of progress with the mushroom vents. I definitely want to be able to open and close the vents from inside the teardrop. I found some threaded knobs at my local ACE Hardware and inserted SS carriage bolts with Loctite Red for a permanent bond. I don’t know if it is visible in the photo but the middle screen section was drilled out and a brass threaded insert screwed in. I haven’t decided on how to fix the knob/bolt to the mushroom cap and will wait until I cut the vent holes through the shell. The carriage bolt will have to be shortened but not until I see how it all fits together. What I do know is I don’t want the knob sticking out just above my head so the forward vents will be in panels 2 and probably higher than the manual shows. The rear vent will be in the quarter panels pretty much as shown but also with the interior control knobs. I thinking of putting a fifth mushroom vent somewhere in the galley, sides or hatch to be determined, and maybe a butterfly vent through the bulkhead to get some air exchange in the galley on hot days. That vent would not have the internal control knob and would only be operated from the outside.

[Author]

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