Ropin' the Heki

Our Heki has been good so far, with only had one brief problem. We were driving in Nova Scotia through a very windy downpour and later that day DW's side of the bed was damp. Apparently the strong wind had caused the skylight to lift slightly and a little water entered.
Our dealer suggested using a short 2x4 that would span from the front to the back interior trim, going through the swung down aluminum handle to act as a secondary hold down when traveling.

Btw, DW made a simple drawstring nylon bag to store the Reflectix for all of the windows, vents, and skylights in a roll. The bag is about 12 x 30.

jimh425 wrote:
I put Reflectix in my windows and skylights when I truly want it to be dark.

Thanks for the tip. I'd never heard of Reflectix but on looking it up it seems like a useful product. If nothing else, lining a cooler or fishbox with it would be worthwhile.

After having one in my Lance 1181 we ordered the 1191 with a fantastic fan above the bed instead of the hot hatch much better for us.

It's obvious that some people look at the Heki as a value add feature while others look at it as liability based on their camper usage. I'm glad Host can include or exclude it in their builds. I would most likely be looking for marine hatch or fixed cover if there was another egress path from the cab over.

I feel the same way about my Dream Dinette table mechanism in the Arctic Fox. It is fine with two people but if you stick four people at the dinette, the inboard people better have short legs to clear the mechanism. This is an upgrade feature that doesn't work for everyone...

I put Reflectix in my windows and skylights when I truly want it to be dark. I do that for the fans as well. DW cut it to fit all cabinets around our beds as well as windows. It both keeps sun out and light out in the case of windows/skylights.

So, the problem of how to remove ambient light is easy. If you don't have the skylight, you can't add it though! Of course, if you don't spend any time in the TC during the day, I guess it doesn't matter if you don't have enough ambient light. We do.

The Heki does have a blackout shade built in, if you want to sleep late. It also has a mosquito screen built in.

The problem with them is they are molded from thin ABS plastic. Treated very carefully and kept out of the sun (!) they work OK. The plastic hinges and latches are not robust to start with, and get embrittled by the sun. I think this is the reason most of the European suppliers sell covers for them. Heki themselves say don't leave the inside shade closed in the sun as the unit will melt. These things come from and are primarily sold to Nordic countries where sun is an occasional novelty. They have never seen anything like Phoenix AZ except in the movies.

If you do have to replace one, get the crank up version rather than the bar operated one. The mechanism might be a little tougher, but the main reason is you can open and close the dome without opening the mosquito screen first, which lets all the little critters in.

jimh425 wrote:
I agree with getting parts from Europe is a better way to go. We don't open our skylight very much, but know that we could if we needed to exit. We love the light during the day and being able to look out it while in bed. I couldn't imagine only having a fantastic fan in it's place. We'd give up far too much light.

Light intrusion into the sleeping area is another reason I do not want any kind of skylight there. I am up before 5am every day I have to work and don't follow a clock or the sun when I am camping. I am only sleeping or watching TV in bed - Neither activity is conducive for additional ambient light.

The ONLY problem I had with the Heki hatch/skylight was when I drove off with it in the vent position. When you close the hatch there's 2 notches you can lock the latch in. One closes it tight, the other leaves a slight gap for ventilation but also allows for a lot of vibration and that was when my latch broke. Had I closed it completely I'm convinced I would never have had a problem.

Dewclaw wrote:
I've got Leisureshopdirect in the UK bookmarked and will see about ordering from them.

There are also companies in Germany that will ship. I got a whole new skylight air shipped from Europe for significantly less than Dometic USA wanted just for the dome. I got it three days, Dometic USA said 4-6 weeks. They are promoting a product for installation in North American campers that clearly has some service issues, and they do not support it with anything but profit motive.