I found myself needing to make another unscheduled RV repair whilst on site.
I opened the flap on the exhaust vent cover to use the stove top. Afterwards, I went to latch down the flap only to have it bust on the hinges and drop to the ground. Looking into the resulting hole I could see straight into the trailer – nothing to keep bugs or water out. This needed an immediate fix!
It turns out if you unscrew the bottom two screws, that will give you access to the area where the flap mounts. By doing this you can make an emergency repair using duct tape:
To make a permanent fix, I found an exact replacement on Amazon:
I also needed some RV putty, or butyl tape. I sourced this locally so I only had to buy what I needed:
Before starting, I sprayed the cover with a UV protector and let it dry for 24 hours. The old cover yellowed horribly. I don’t know if the UV protector will help, but I doubt it will hurt.
I unscrewed the old vent cover. It took a little force to break the seal of the old tape, but once it let loose, the vent cover came off easy. After removing the old RV putty I’m ready to test fit the new cover:
Once confirming the new vent cover fit, I put RV putty on the cover. I had a heck of a time separating the putty from the paper, probably because it was quite hot outside. I got the putty into place. It was an ugly job but I think it will be water tight:
I then fit the vent cover into place and tightened the screws. I checked the seal all the way around and it appears the putty squashed nicely into place all the way around.
The completed install:
Big Dan the Blogging Man 