Air Tabs Installed

PIANOTUNA here are the photos on my truck. I went off one of the wings on the bottom goose then snap a caulk line. They need about 3/4 inch apart they recommended a thumb space. So that is what I did they say 3 per foot, but due to how the shell is laid out I had a larger gap on the outside ones. But they should not touch.





Steve, I have not yet, just the mileage tracker on my truck. I was getting around 10 or 11 before, coming home when checking it read 11 and 12. So millage is yet TBD. I'm going to add these towards the rear of the camper like stated on there web site. So that should reduce the drag. This is a test in progress, but as I mention above I'm very happy the wind noise as been eliminated so to speak. And bugs reduce ALOT. ART

Art Schlangen wrote:
Ok Hot of the press. I just got back from a 300mile trip. Cab noise from wind 98% gone. My wife and I can speak without screaming. We had a good head wind coming home VERY HAPPY. Bugs about a 90% improvement. Money will spent going to add some on the tail end of camper also to reduce drag on the tail end. I would recommend them It worked for me. ART

Thanks for the report! I'm glad it worked for you.
Do you track gas mileage closely enough to comment on it?

Several U-tube videos about these available. Some show before and after wind tests with marker flags. Look good to me.

Hi Art,

I'm glad it reduced the noise.

Can you post a more distant picture of the installation--I want to see where they actually are and I can not figure it out from the close ups that are already online.

Ok Hot of the press. I just got back from a 300mile trip. Cab noise from wind 98% gone. My wife and I can speak without screaming. We had a good head wind coming home VERY HAPPY. Bugs about a 90% improvement. Money will spent going to add some on the tail end of camper also to reduce drag on the tail end. I would recommend them It worked for me. ART

steve68steve wrote:
BCbigfoot: disclaimer: I'm not an aeronautical engineer - there's every chance I don't know wtf I'm talking about.

The airtabs would have to create a row of vortices with a length and direction such that the 'sheet' of vortices would "fly over" the stuff on the roof trapping bubble of low pressure air up there (lol - which would theoretically unload your suspension a little). There's a lot of variables - do the airtabs actually make a strong vortex? at what speed? how long are they? what's the ideal placement of them? would the air you'r moving thru push the vortices down into the roof projections and make things worse? if so, at what speed do you change from 'beneficial' to 'detrimental'? and on and on.

But qualitatively, it makes sense - I guess it could work. Short of having a scale model for wind tunnel tests, or a buddy who's an aerodynamicist with $10,000 modeling software, stuff like this is all down to educated guessing - trial and error.

HaHa thanks Steve68, I respect your thought's/ideas and open mind.

Altern wrote:
The purpose of air tabs on an aircraft is to improve slow flight handling and reduce stall speed.
Their purpose on a metal box with attached a/c's, vents, antenna's etc seems ill defined at best. So far it looks like "lets stick 'em on & see what we get".
Without repeatable data based upon identical or nearly so configurations their value cannot be anything other than costly subjective hearsay.
YMMV
Good luck

In most part I agree, however isn't that the case with most scientific theories? impossible to get absolute proof, the Wright Bros. built a contraption based on it should/might (and a wind tunnel that every one on RV.net would laugh at if we tried to use it on our RV's) work with no proof it would work. It was accumulated failure and success (of themselves and others) that ultimately gave them the necessary knowledge to fly.

When do we ever get absolutes about most of lifes issue's such as,

when should I retire? should I retire in Detroit or Denver? should I invest in Apple or Blackberry? is it a good idea to marry that stripper? At times the best we do is throw educated guesses at some issues, the more accumulated knowledge we can amass (in this case a forum) the better of educated guess one can make.

Aerodynamic additions to our RV's are relatively low cost when one compares the cost of fuel over the RV's lifespan or the initial purchase price. I have under 100$ invested in my air deflector.

Altern wrote:
The purpose of air tabs on an aircraft is to improve slow flight handling and reduce stall speed.

My understanding is that this is accomplished by the generated vortices maintaining a sort of psudo-laminar flow, thus maintaining airflow over the wing at a lower speed.

BCbigfoot: disclaimer: I'm not an aeronautical engineer - there's every chance I don't know wtf I'm talking about.

The airtabs would have to create a row of vortices with a length and direction such that the 'sheet' of vortices would "fly over" the stuff on the roof trapping bubble of low pressure air up there (lol - which would theoretically unload your suspension a little). There's a lot of variables - do the airtabs actually make a strong vortex? at what speed? how long are they? what's the ideal placement of them? would the air you'r moving thru push the vortices down into the roof projections and make things worse? if so, at what speed do you change from 'beneficial' to 'detrimental'? and on and on.

But qualitatively, it makes sense - I guess it could work. Short of having a scale model for wind tunnel tests, or a buddy who's an aerodynamicist with $10,000 modeling software, stuff like this is all down to educated guessing - trial and error.

The purpose of air tabs on an aircraft is to improve slow flight handling and reduce stall speed.
Their purpose on a metal box with attached a/c's, vents, antenna's etc seems ill defined at best. So far it looks like "lets stick 'em on & see what we get".
Without repeatable data based upon identical or nearly so configurations their value cannot be anything other than costly subjective hearsay.
YMMV
Good luck