Mod to secure water access

[MovinSue]

Having always owned Class A's before, I was dismayed to note that the city and fill water inlets on my Lexington GTS B+ were exposed to the public. Because I boondock in many types of situations, I was concerned about my water supply being accessed by persons bored and up to no good.

My mod was simple; I ordered two heavy duty locking thermostat covers and installed them "over" the water inlets. These covers come in two pieces and I "swiss-cheesed" the larger outer cover by drilling multiple drill holes in it in order to reduce wind resistance and hopefully, keep the covers in place during travel. When filling, the large cover comes off and the small frame remains behind and does not get in the way.

It worked like a charm! Over 8000 miles of travel in all kinds of weather, conditions and speeds and my protective covers remain intact and I have much more confidence that my water supply will remain untampered with!

[mtnguy]

I like it !!!

[CorpusBragg]

Wow! It's good to be in America!!!

[mpierce]

Nice, but I believe the holes will ADD wind resistance. Ever see the large pipes on a semi, with the tarp over the front end of them? With the tarp, they pull easier. A LOT easier. The wind going thru the pipes ADD wind resistance.

Other than than, nice mod.

MP

[Willis]

Originally Posted by mpierce

Nice, but I believe the holes will ADD wind resistance. Ever see the large pipes on a semi, with the tarp over the front end of them? With the tarp, they pull easier. A LOT easier. The wind going thru the pipes ADD wind resistance.

Other than than, nice mod.

MP

Hmmm...interesting engineering problem!

In this pic it looks like the box is on the side of the trailer. So the air flow hitting the leading edge is going to be significant. So if the air flow through the box is faster than outside the box it's going to want to fly off (like a wing). My expertise is in hydraulic dynamics inside pipelines and not airfoils, but it seems to me that adding the holes will create a turbulent flow over the inside surface that would tend to equalize the air pressure.

Now if the box is on the back of the trailer (like mine) then we have a different situation. In that case the box is already in the vortex of a fairly low pressure turbulent flow anyway so the holes probably would make no difference.

It would be interesting to test these hypotheses in a wind tunnel!

An interesting counter-intuitive parallel (which has been tested in wind tunnels) is the question of whether leaving the tailgate of a pickup down reduces wind resistance. The proven scientific answer is no! If the tailgate is down the air passes over the cab and down over the bed surface (which has a lot of air resistance). And to make it worse, that air is like the top of a wing. With the faster air passing underneath the vehicle the truck wants to "take off" and can actually lose control at higher speeds. With the tailgate up, the air passes over the cab, hits the tailgate and then creates a bubble of turbulent air in the bed that actually creates a faster, more efficient airflow over the top of the vehicle.

In NASCAR truck racing they have to cover the beds to artificially enhance this effect and add spoilers front and rear to keep the trucks from going airborne at high speeds because even more so than race cars they are basically wings on wheels. If you have ever seen a major crash during a truck race you will see that they have a bad tendency to "take off" because at 200 mph they are literally just on the verge of taking flight.

[cbenslay]

I like that simple solution. I told my wife a few weeks ago that it bothered me that anyone could pour anything into our water supply! I don't go around ticking people off, but sometimes kids get bored and don't think about consequences...

[87CrewDually]

For $24 this works for me.

RV Water Center Fill Hatch from PPL - PPL Motor Homes

[cbenslay]

I like that! Just have ANOTHER key to keep track of...

[kalik282]

Originally Posted by 87CrewDually

For $24 this works for me.

RV Water Center Fill Hatch from PPL - PPL Motor Homes

member "sherdep" did this mod...posting below complete with pictures.

Locking Fresh Water Door Installed - Mini Lite 2306

[MovinSue]

Hmmm...interesting engineering problem!

In this pic it looks like the box is on the side of the trailer. So the air flow hitting the leading edge is going to be significant. So if the air flow through the box is faster than outside the box it's going to want to fly off (like a wing). My expertise is in hydraulic dynamics inside pipelines and not airfoils, but it seems to me that adding the holes will create a turbulent flow over the inside surface that would tend to equalize the air pressure.



I was quite impressed at the thought you gave this. I too gave it a lot of thought but did not have the science behind it, just a number of opinions.

In the end, the consensus was "Just do It" and see what happens and, I was tickled that the outcome was very positive that the boxes show no signs of abuse from wind turbulence.