BUILD YOUR OWN SKYLIGHT PLUGS

Fellow RVer,  Bret, offered  this great plan to share with you for a Skylight Insulated  Cover

"Up here in Canada, near the Rocky Mountains, we camp from early spring and late fall and have a lot longer days than folks down south and sometimes a lot colder weather as well.

To solve the early morning/bedtime blues problem of light peeking in the vent or skylight while trying to sleep, and also to help keep out the cold and keep the heat in, here's what I did.

I picked up a 2' x 8' piece of the solid type insulation board. You can get it in pink, blue or white, but blue and pink are the most durable. You can get it from one to two inches thick. The size you need would depend on the thickness of your roof.

You also need a piece of paneling of some type. Maybe you have a piece laying around home you can use, if not you can get a 4' x 8' sheet at most home improvement stores for ten or 15 dollars, and you can cut enough pieces out of a sheet to cover all the vents or skylights in your whole rig! Just a note here, if you're the color coordinated type, you may want to use paneling that fits the decor of your unit, but you can also use any easy clean up latex paint to match the color!

The next piece you need may be a little harder to find, but well worth the search. It's a small piece of plastic tubing with an elbow on it, like a small twist lock. (I originally made these covers so long ago I don't remember where I found these things, but I bought a whole bunch of them to last, in case I couldn't find them again. Now I'm running out ) .

Next step, remove the inside frame of the vent you want to make a cover for. Lay the insulation down flat and put the smaller side of the vent frame on the insulation board and, with a pencil, trace inside the vent frame.

Then, turn the vent frame over and lay it on the paneling and trace around the outside of the frame. Using a jigsaw or bandsaw, cut out the paneling, following your trace lines. Then do the same with the insulation. Check the size of the insulation to make sure it fits inside the vent frame before you proceed to the next step.

Once you've checked to make sure the insulboard fits inside the vent frame, using contact cement or panel glue, attach the insulation to the unfinished side of the panel you've cut out, centering it on the panel as closely as you can. Before you apply the cement or glue, put the vent frame on the rough side of the panel and trace a line inside the frame and use that as a guide for applying your cement/glue and as a placement guide for putting on the insulboard. Contact cement works well because there's no cure time and you can proceed with the next step without the wait for curing as with panel glue. If you use contact cement, make sure you have the insulboard lined up exactly before you 'touch down'.

Once you've got the insulboard firmly attached to the panel, lay the large side of the vent frame over the finished side of the panel and, with a pencil, mark the screw holes. Choose a drill size just larger than the turnlock post and drill out the hole. Then take your jigsaw/bandsaw and make two cuts, from the side of the panel in to the hole, so the the hole becomes a "U" shape that will accept the turnlock arm.

Now for the turnlocks. The ones I found had a barrel (or shaft) that was longer than the thickness of the paneling so I had to trim them down to accommodate the panel thickness. You may have to do this as well depending on what you find and also what you use for a 'panel'.

Now you have the insulboard attached to the panel, the holes cut for the turnlocks and have either used a decorative panel or painted it the color of your choice. If you use a latex paint you can paint the whole thing, inside and out and it will help seal the while thing and I found it tends to keep the insulboard from 'shedding' bits of board.

You may be able to use the screws you took out of the vent frame if they're long enough, if not, you need screws that are about half inch longer to accommodate the turnlock shaft. Screw the vent frame back into place with the turnlock on the outside, just tight enough so that you can still easily turn the lock and it won't wiggle loose if you travel with these covers in place (never had one fall out!).

And there you go, a custom made, day/night/cold/hot vent/skylight cover that really works! A little more work than the cushion type, but a lot better too!

Hope this solutions helps whatever problem you have .
Bret"

Thanks Bret, for sharing...

 

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