No Options Apply Installing roof hatch 14.44

[AdrianVVV]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 2012 14.44 outback with a roof mounted air conditioner and are considering installing a skylight next to the AC to provide a bit more light and ventilation into the van. The brand new Jayco's have a skylight and as a consequence move the AC back slightly. You can see the layout of the new vans on the 3d interior view on the Jayco website.

I thought I would throw a question out to the brains trust before I go any further in my investigations. At this stage I am wondering whether anyone has done this mod and how it went. I am thinking to install a 400x400mm vent such as the Mini Hekiplus, and think the front option in my graphic below would be best as the AC hangs a long way back and would push the skylight almost to the rear bunk. My alternative option is to remove the AC altogether as we are mostly off-grid camping, however that seems a bit extreme (and we might really want it one day!).

My roof appears to be fibreglass exterior with foam and thin ply internal lining, totaling about 25-30mm thick. I pulled out the interior lights to find this out, however all you can see is the foam.

My concerns/thoughts are:

• Would the roof be able to support the minimal extra weight (4kg)
• Is there any structural elements (beams?) that I need to be aware of?
• Is anyone aware of the exact construction of this roof? I have seem the construction of the larger vans in the Caravan World Jayco factory tour (see youtube), however the 14.44 looks like a different design.
• Any other concerns issues with my plan?
• Any issues with the Hekiplus hatch? It looks like they are fitting this as standard in the new Jayco's. Not cheap, but hopefully works well, and provides a nice clear hatch with a blind.
• Cables, but I am reasonably confident in finding and working around/relocating these.

On a side note, I am trying to work out what cabling I have in the roof and have a couple of unknowns, any help with identification would be appreciated. I don't have solar on the roof (yet), is this something Jayco might have pre-wired back in 2012? If so where would they have terminated it?

Left (door side)

• Figure-8 wire (roof lights from door mounted isolator switch)

Right side

• 2C+e (Air-conditioner)
• Coax (TV)
• Figure-8 (12V unknown)
• Twin core sheathed (12V unknown)

Thanks in advance for all your assistance! I will post an update with some more pics of the install when/if I go ahead with it.

Regards

Adrian.

 

[bigcol]

@Moto Mech fitted one to his new (ish) Expanda..........

page 8 (on my desktop screen.........)

http://expandasdownunder.com/threads/our-expanda-from-mild-to-wild.10191/

 

[Crusty181]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 2012 14.44 outback with a roof mounted air conditioner and are considering installing a skylight next to the AC to provide a bit more light and ventilation into the van. The brand new Jayco's have a skylight and as a consequence move the AC back slightly. You can see the layout of the new vans on the 3d interior view on the Jayco website.

I thought I would throw a question out to the brains trust before I go any further in my investigations. At this stage I am wondering whether anyone has done this mod and how it went. I am thinking to install a 400x400mm vent such as the Mini Hekiplus, and think the front option in my graphic below would be best as the AC hangs a long way back and would push the skylight almost to the rear bunk. My alternative option is to remove the AC altogether as we are mostly off-grid camping, however that seems a bit extreme (and we might really want it one day!).

My roof appears to be fibreglass exterior with foam and thin ply internal lining, totaling about 25-30mm thick. I pulled out the interior lights to find this out, however all you can see is the foam.

My concerns/thoughts are:

• Would the roof be able to support the minimal extra weight (4kg)
• Is there any structural elements (beams?) that I need to be aware of?
• Is anyone aware of the exact construction of this roof? I have seem the construction of the larger vans in the Caravan World Jayco factory tour (see youtube), however the 14.44 looks like a different design.
• Any other concerns issues with my plan?
• Any issues with the Hekiplus hatch? It looks like they are fitting this as standard in the new Jayco's. Not cheap, but hopefully works well, and provides a nice clear hatch with a blind.
• Cables, but I am reasonably confident in finding and working around/relocating these.

On a side note, I am trying to work out what cabling I have in the roof and have a couple of unknowns, any help with identification would be appreciated. I don't have solar on the roof (yet), is this something Jayco might have pre-wired back in 2012? If so where would they have terminated it?

Left (door side)

• Figure-8 wire (roof lights from door mounted isolator switch)

Right side

• 2C+e (Air-conditioner)
• Coax (TV)
• Figure-8 (12V unknown)
• Twin core sheathed (12V unknown)

Thanks in advance for all your assistance! I will post an update with some more pics of the install when/if I go ahead with it.

Regards

Adrian.

Howdy @AdrianVVV. The roof will be able to support it. The roof is likely reinforced across the width for the aircon; where those supports go should be relatively close to front and back of the aircon unit. The poptops are a different design to the caravans. I have the Hekiplus style hatches and they are pretty good, aside from the mesh which over time tends to droop about 15mm across its width when closed, which annoys the bejesus out of me. Ive removed the frame and reversed the mesh twice, but it eventually repeats. Ive seen similar hatches with inbuilt LEDS which could replace your existing light. I would suspect youd get the run around contacting the factory, but a dealer service area would likely be able to advise you of any impediments in the area your aiming at.

I would expect a junction box on the roof (outside) if it was precabled for solar ... otherwise precabling would be useless

Good luck

 

[MDS69]

Where you have the joining strip running through the middle of your front hatch I would expect timbers or the like there. Knock on it and the surrounding areas with your knuckles listening for different tones. Also the light at the front pull it down and poke a length of metal coathanger around to the sides and rear feeling for reinforcements. When you do this ensure no electrical connections to the van. Without going into my van to double check, look for staples holding the roof lining up to give you an idea of the direction of supports.

 

[Drover]

Yep as the others have said, poking around with a wire coat hanger is the way to go, just be carefull of the cabling as jayco never seem to provide any more than the minimum length and you don't want to unplug anything that you can't get at....Should only be light wires, TV aerial and aerial power leads up there, you will find a new blade on a Stanley knife will cut thru the lining easy...........when you do cut the whole box in around the cavity to give added support and any buckling over time.

 

[Moto Mech]

This was the section cut out of our 2004 Expanda.

 

[AdrianVVV]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your replies, looks like I'm going to try out the coat hanger trick and see what I can find. If there is a strut under the joining strip I might have to move the hatch further forward and might also have to move/change the light.

The two sets of unidentified 12V cables running into the roof are still a mystery, there is no external junction box, and I assume the Winegard antenna only has coax to the roof (the 12V DC is to the amplifier unit as far as I can see in the manual). I'll have to investigate further.

@Moto Mech, I have actually been keeping an eye on your build, some nice work on your project there. I didn't look last week when you posted about the hatch. Looks like you're thinking along the same lines as me! Hope to hear how that and your solar install with the flex panels comes along, that is also on my to-do list, but with an 8 month old at home and trying to actually use the van time is very limited!

Thanks again all.

Regards,

Adrian.

 

[AdrianVVV]

Hi Again,

It took me 10 months but I finally got the new hatch in. I thought I would post up here to share my experience and photos to prove. In the end there was a timber running under the joiner strip, so butted the hatch against that, which also conveniently just cleared the aircon unit on the topside.


I could never get a good trace on the wires from the lights so I used a multitool to just cut through the ply layer (and ideally not cut any wires) then peeled the ply back to see if there were any wires, fortunately there was not. After that it was a pretty simple (but messy) job to remove some foam, install some supporting timbers and attach the hatch.

The worst part of the job was making the first cut, hoping you measured right and knowing there is no going back...

I also figured out what the wires above the door are for which I asked about in the original post. These are the lights isolator wires and all lights are in series with this switch. This means the lighting wire path is from the far side of the van, across the roof, then through the switch on the door side, then back to the roof and lights.

 

[Drover]

A very tidy job indeed..............................well done.

 

[Hylux]

my wife has been wanting one in our 14.44 for a while. My ac is mounted on the wall so with your great write up might give it a go. Thanks.