Bug Deflectors to push air over

[ajriding]

Somewhere I saw a guy bolt gutter guards to the bottom of the TC overhang to keep air (bugs etc) from between the top of truck and camper. It seemed to work.
I have fiberglass TC so will not be doing anything thing like that - I will not be drilling holes into my camper to hang garbage, nor using tape.

A friend suggested that a bug deflector mounted on front of truck hood might push air over the gap. On some vehicles those will push air up to top of windshield, on others it will push completely over the cab. My objective is to deflect air from this gap. Bugs being the biggest issue, but also it is probably not as aero to catch air in the gap.

Anyone tried it? Did it work?

I have a Ram.

[ajriding]

My point being I do not want to junk up a perfectly good camper with random stuff bolted to it, screwed to it or odd-looking junkyard remedies. Koodos for the people who make it work and put function over form

[Reality_Check]

ajriding wrote:
I have the nicest looking TC rig in the country, I won't be putting mattress or home depot gutters on the rig. Keeping it looking nice is a priority, and as I said, putting holes in it is not an option either. The gutter guy had to drill holes to attach that, and only accomplished moving the bug splatter from the back to the front. I restate this since many people did not read it the first time

lol... well, that discussion is settled. I always wondered who was going to get that trophy.

[Joe417]

Great. Good for you.

[ajriding]

I have the nicest looking TC rig in the country, I won't be putting mattress or home depot gutters on the rig. Keeping it looking nice is a priority, and as I said, putting holes in it is not an option either. The gutter guy had to drill holes to attach that, and only accomplished moving the bug splatter from the back to the front. I restate this since many people did not read it the first time

[Grit_dog]

discovery4us wrote:

ajriding wrote:

discovery4us wrote:
My neighbor uses a twin size inflatable mattress. Shoves it between the camper and the truck roof and blows it up. Not the prettiest thing but he claims the $25 mattress gets him better fuel mileage.

Problem with that is my truck is painted and I'd like to keep it painted….

I agree. I'm sure it will ruin the paint. Only time in 16 years I have seen the TC off the truck was when he moved the TC to his new truck.

I’m sure prolonged use could do paint damage.
It’s a balance of what you want to accomplish and what you’re willingness to put up with.
If the blow up mattress is your method and paint damage is a concern, could always slap on a sheet of vinyl wrap.
But can clean a lot of bugs for the time involved to do the roof and camper overhang.
If there’s a will there’s a way.

[Joe417]

A friend made his out of vinyl contoured gutter with the back trimmed off and mounted upside down on the TC overhang with 3M automotive double sided adhesive. It was in a V shape from the middle of the overhang. It stayed on good with no screws. I don't remember all all the details.

I think he posted it on here a couple years ago, but I couldn't find it.

The difference it made was that it caught a lot of the bugs, keeping them from splattering the front wall in the truck bed. I don't remember how much clearance was above the cab.

I planned on copying his but never did it.

Maybe he'll read this post and put a picture on.

[ajriding]

I have a long bed and an extended cab, so mind was going in that direction opposite the camper bed layout, lol.

I have thought about a roof rack faring. My TC stops at the windshield, EW 😉
Since TC is fiberglass I will not be drilling anything into it. If it were plywood and aluminum siding then I wouldn't hesitate to drill and bolt into it as kind of hard to ruin cheap.

Still, my thought is that if your hood deflector is kicking the bug line up to the camper, then it is pushing the air above the gap. I am as interested in increasing mpg as I am keeping bugs out. I can get 16mpg with TC and a cargo trailer, so am doing pretty well there, but any extra is nice.

[discovery4us]

ajriding wrote:

discovery4us wrote:
My neighbor uses a twin size inflatable mattress. Shoves it between the camper and the truck roof and blows it up. Not the prettiest thing but he claims the $25 mattress gets him better fuel mileage.

Problem with that is my truck is painted and I'd like to keep it painted….

I agree. I'm sure it will ruin the paint. Only time in 16 years I have seen the TC off the truck was when he moved the TC to his new truck.

[wnjj]

Reality Check wrote:
In all seriousness, does someone have a better idea on how to easily describe the bed layout in a truck camper? I don't think the EW or NS is the problem, as the abbreviations for North, South, etc, are used everyday, everywhere. You all know what NB is and E Maple Dr or Rainier Ave S refers to. And NW and SE, etc are so common... just asking.

Front to back or side to side, but those just take longer to write. Also lengthwise or crosswise works.

[stevenal]

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/18111576/

[Reality_Check]

In all seriousness, does someone have a better idea on how to easily describe the bed layout in a truck camper? I don't think the EW or NS is the problem, as the abbreviations for North, South, etc, are used everyday, everywhere. You all know what NB is and E Maple Dr or Rainier Ave S refers to. And NW and SE, etc are so common... just asking.

[Reality_Check]

kohldad wrote:
...

P.S. Sorry about the E/W/N/S abbreviations as I don't use TC lingo because I realize not everyone is familiar with the terms but thought those would be okay because they are so widely used.

lol.... I don't think an apology is required. E-W and N-S are common enough that they probably fall in the list of common knowledge that will get picked up. And asking is pretty simple too.

PS sorry about the 'lol'

PPS Doh!! did it again with 'PS'

PPPS Oh Lord, stop the insanity...

[kohldad]

Yes it helped but doesn't stop the bugs in the crevice, but that's only because I have a short cabover (bed goes from side to side, that is head to toe goes side-to-side). The extended cabover which is 12-18" longer will still catch the air and direct it under the cabover.

What did better than the bug deflector was a simple vinyl trim J-channel (one that goes around house windows) attached to the bottom of the cabover to reduce the gap which reduce the airfllow. This completely eliminated the bugs in the crevice.

P.S. Sorry about the E/W/N/S abbreviations as I don't use TC lingo because I realize not everyone is familiar with the terms but thought those would be okay because they are so widely used.

[dwrat]

ajriding wrote:

kohldad wrote:
I had a 04 Ram with the bug deflector and now a 15 Ram without the bug deflector, both carry a E-W bed. .

What is EW bed and all that?

If your bug line is up on the front of the camper then that means you are pushing air over that gap.

I find a lot of dead bugs in my truck bed when I unload the TC, and lots of bug splatter in that crevice.

I agree I hate when people post unknown thing like EW Bed and NS bed.
I assume he means east/west bed & north/south bed.