Dometic Fantastic Breeze roof vent cover

[howiez69]

I hunted high and low for tips on this and found nothing, so i'm posting hoping others can have an easier time of it!

Our last camper had a standard 14" roof vent so we installed a MaxxAir II. It was easy to drill 4 holes in the 'side' of the box that was above the roof and not worry about sealant or leaks.

Fast forward to this year when we picked up our 2019 Alpha Wolf DBH-L and I attempted to mount the same cover. No dice, since the 'box' is very thick and I couldn't easily get the hardware through. The old one was a simple sheet metal wall, the new Dometic Fantastic Fan shroud seems to be 1" to 2" thick.

Of course you can pull 4 screws from the roof, after scraping Dicor, but I wasn't about to do that until it was a last resort. Besides, our roof mount flange had some peculiar tabs that were similar, but not the same as the MaxxAir EZ mount.

I can find ZERO information on those tabs, or any documentation that shows what vent cover to get. Needless to say, they recommend the 'Fantastic Breeze' cover to go with the Fantastic Fan. So I bit, figuring i'd have to jerry rig something.

I watched countless Fantastic Breeze vent cover videos and they never mentioned those tabs. The hardware included looked to only mount to the roof flange, by again, scraping Dicor and removing four screws.

We received our new cover last week and I was able to install it fairly quick this past weekend.

Pictures to follow!

[howiez69]

Here are the flange 'tabs' for starters:


Turns out, you can sit the vent cover right on the nubs buried in the Dicor, and line up some imaginary holes with the holes in the tabs:


Here is the cover sitting in place, you can almost see the slot/hole it should line up with:


Using a 1/4" drill bit I carefully drilled through only the cover, taking care not to hit the roof membrane with any tools:


The push rivet before I push it all the way in:


And both push rivets installed on drivers side:


Passenger side rivets installed. Front 'nub' is at front of slot, rear nub is about 1/4" back. I don't see how it would have killed them to put the holes in at the factory, but perhaps there are more spacings/models...

[howiez69]

Here is a shot of the inside, the fan cover doesn't open 100%, but it's very close and fits right in the cover 'shape'.


Random shot of space/clearance to shower skylight:


And best of all, I had leftover parts, so I must have done it right?

[JohnD10]

Do your stock vents look like the ones in my photos below?

They also have their own built-in tabs that don't seem to fit many of the products out there without fabricating something to make them work.

If so, they are called 'EZ Lift' vents and the MaxAire II vent covers don't fit them and MaxAire won't make mounting brackets for them (not sure why).

Anyway, I wanted to put the Vortex fan in mine, but after studying them closely...they don't work with the EZ Lift vents, either.

I haven't mounted my Fantastic fan yet...

[howiez69]

Originally Posted by JohnD10

Do your stock vents look like the ones in my photos below?

They also have their own built-in tabs that don't seem to fit many of the products out there without fabricating something to make them work.

If so, they are called 'EZ Lift' vents and the MaxAire II vent covers don't fit them and MaxAire won't make mounting brackets for them (not sure why).

Anyway, I wanted to put the Vortex fan in mine, but after studying them closely...they don't work with the EZ Lift vents, either.

I haven't mounted my Fantastic fan yet...

It sure looks like your tabs on the outside have the 1/4" hole that would mount. I can't see if you have the nubs that it sits on. (maybe under the Dicor?)

I know the EZ mount MaxxAir stuff I saw, you still slid the key in, front to back, so the holes in the roof flange had to be front to back not sideways or across the RV like yours show.

You may also be able to take the MaxxAir II "L" bracket and bolt through those holes. Although i'd think the MaxxAir you show would have similar brackets?

My opinion only, but seeing your roof holes, i'd go for the Fantastic if the width is right.

If you can measure from the outside of the tab to the other side, outside of tab, and it's around 17-1/8" the Fantastic Breeze Vent cover should work. The only sucky part is you have to buy a bug screen too, whereas MaxxAir includes it.

[JohnD10]

I did try to mount a MaxxAir II cover on the EZ Lift, but the brackets made it offset so the EZ Lift vent cover wouldn't open.

Plus, the brackets didn't line up on the other side when attached to the opposite side of the vent.

MaxxAir could make a fortune if they fabricated a bracket to sell or provide with the MaxxAir II cover.

I ended going with the regular three MaxxAir covers, which is nowhere near as good as the II is!

Wish I had kept my MaxxAir II (gave it away...brackets and all) to a fellow camper as a local RV tech I know told me that the MaxxAir II cover works good with the Fantastic Fan!

[Reprise]

I purchased / installed the FF Ultra Breeze; the reason I went with it was due to their videos on YT showing increased airflow vs the MaxxAir, et al.

Was looking at the pics & reading this post thinking "I don't get it?" Then it hit me - the OP was worried about leaks in the future.

Granted, I've not had my trailer long, but I'll share my observations on installing the Ultra Breeze...

After scraping away a biit of sealant on the first mount point, I realized that I didn't have to do that; I could feel for the phillips head screw, remove just a tiny bit of sealant directly above, and draw out the screw with my drill. Coating the new, slightly longer screw threads w/ some Dicor allowed for a nice round bead around the circumference of the screw head once screwed in, and some new sealant to cover up the small area there, along with the bottom edge of the bracket , made for a quick install while keeping existing sealant integrity in that area at maximum.

Installing that way allows easy removal of the cover via the supplied slide pins; your cover looks like it will be a bit more difficult to remove (assuming you might ever want / need to.) Just a thought.

[howiez69]

Originally Posted by JohnD10

Plus, the brackets didn't line up on the other side when attached to the opposite side of the vent.

That is exactly the problem i expected to have too!. I was prepared to put my brackets in a vice and rebend them shorter.

I agree, bracket sales would be a winner!

[howiez69]

Originally Posted by Reprise

Installing that way allows easy removal of the cover via the supplied slide pins; your cover looks like it will be a bit more difficult to remove (assuming you might ever want / need to.) Just a thought.

Yes, i'll have to pry my push rivet centers out, then they should slide out easy. That being said, it's so close to the cover it self, i doubt i'll every remove it for cleaning.

My last camper had the 'giant' MaxxAir II and I only popped it open once a year to get roof cleaner/UV protectant all the way up to the dicor/flange. Very few leaves built up, and this new cover is all but sitting on the flange, so I expect almost zero gunk.

And you are correct I was scaredy-cat about leaks!

[Bigbore]

Originally Posted by howiez69

I hunted high and low for tips on this and found nothing, so i'm posting hoping others can have an easier time of it!

Our last camper had a standard 14" roof vent so we installed a MaxxAir II. It was easy to drill 4 holes in the 'side' of the box that was above the roof and not worry about sealant or leaks.

Fast forward to this year when we picked up our 2019 Alpha Wolf DBH-L and I attempted to mount the same cover. No dice, since the 'box' is very thick and I couldn't easily get the hardware through. The old one was a simple sheet metal wall, the new Dometic Fantastic Fan shroud seems to be 1" to 2" thick.

Of course you can pull 4 screws from the roof, after scraping Dicor, but I wasn't about to do that until it was a last resort. Besides, our roof mount flange had some peculiar tabs that were similar, but not the same as the MaxxAir EZ mount.

I can find ZERO information on those tabs, or any documentation that shows what vent cover to get. Needless to say, they recommend the 'Fantastic Breeze' cover to go with the Fantastic Fan. So I bit, figuring i'd have to jerry rig something.

I watched countless Fantastic Breeze vent cover videos and they never mentioned those tabs. The hardware included looked to only mount to the roof flange, by again, scraping Dicor and removing four screws.

We received our new cover last week and I was able to install it fairly quick this past weekend.

Pictures to follow!

What cover did you end up finding that worked? I am having the same issues. My Camper has these same tabs. Can you post a link to the cover or list the Model an information. Thanks,