Wind Deflector
I'm going to put a wind deflector on the truck overhang of our Host Mammoth. Does anyone know if it is a Azdel of luan panel? Do I need to predrill the fiberglass oversize to prevent the fiberglass ...
Forum Discussion
And the winner is HMS Beagle. When you have a fiberglass shell with a wood backing and you want to put a screw into the backing an oversize hole should be drilled thru the fiber glass only because the higher temperature expansion rate of the steel than the fiberglass will cause the fiberglass to split. So the question is wll the same thing occur with these composite skins?
Many years ago we had a member named Sleepy who figured out how to do these wind deflectors out of plastic gutter covers. They worked quite well to prevent the air steam from hitting and flexing the front of the camper shell quieting down the ride in the cab and also deflecting the insects that get almost embedded to the camper wall. The holes in the gutter cover also prevent a low pressure area forming behind the wall which can be an issue.
When driving a barn door down the road, the only thing that I know of that helps fuel mileage is keeping your foot out of the turbo. The closest "big" town is 12 miles away and with a road that appears almost flat is 1300 feet lower and when the road west of the driveway heads up 3000ft to Monarch Pass. Staying out of the turbo is impossible. On the other hand when I roll 4000 ft down hill toward Canon City my fuel range drops by about 6-8 miles in 60 miles.
The design is really quite simple. Following Sleepy's concept my front panel will be 16" wide fastened in the center to the front bottom seam of the overhanging bed then taper back about 18-20 inches to the edge fastened up to the underside of the camper. The panels are pop riveted to some 1x1 LW aluminun angle then fastened to the camper with VRB tape and #8 screws. I'll leave the panels about 2" clearance from the cab of the truck to prevent any interference problem due to either movement of the camper or flexing of the truck.
Many years ago we had a member named Sleepy who figured out how to do these wind deflectors out of plastic gutter covers. They worked quite well to prevent the air steam from hitting and flexing the front of the camper shell quieting down the ride in the cab and also deflecting the insects that get almost embedded to the camper wall. The holes in the gutter cover also prevent a low pressure area forming behind the wall which can be an issue.
When driving a barn door down the road, the only thing that I know of that helps fuel mileage is keeping your foot out of the turbo. The closest "big" town is 12 miles away and with a road that appears almost flat is 1300 feet lower and when the road west of the driveway heads up 3000ft to Monarch Pass. Staying out of the turbo is impossible. On the other hand when I roll 4000 ft down hill toward Canon City my fuel range drops by about 6-8 miles in 60 miles.
The design is really quite simple. Following Sleepy's concept my front panel will be 16" wide fastened in the center to the front bottom seam of the overhanging bed then taper back about 18-20 inches to the edge fastened up to the underside of the camper. The panels are pop riveted to some 1x1 LW aluminun angle then fastened to the camper with VRB tape and #8 screws. I'll leave the panels about 2" clearance from the cab of the truck to prevent any interference problem due to either movement of the camper or flexing of the truck.
