Covering Caravan Vents

That would mean you couldn't (shouldn't) run your fridge while the vents are covered.

You may be better off trying to develop a higher pressure inside the van than outside which will limit the ingress of dust.
Try raising the roof vent a little. Being high up, this shouldn't exaggerate the dust problem.

Phil

The best way to keep dust out of your van is the use of a roof vent. Coromal use a small cast type, like the scupper used for self draining floors in boats. For about $60 you can buy the hatch and internal roof liner and fit it yourself.
Not only pressurises the van to keep dust out, but allows you to keep your fridge running whilst on the move.
Cheers
WAL

Hi Phils,

As Sand Man said, a big no-no to seal the vents if you want to run the fridge while travelling (it performs poorly enough on 12V with the vents open). The best way to keep the dust out is to presurize the van. My van has a forward facing hatch (approx 200mm x 100mm) on the roof specifically for this task. It forces the theoretically dust free air above the van inside and it then flows out all the vent holes etc... I have used this extensively on dusty gravel roads and it works a treat.

However it is not perfect. The main issues being the odd insect getting inside the van (could be solved with a flyscreen, haven't got around to that) , forgetting to close the vent when rain appears and the biggest being forgetting to open the vent in the first place.

If I got off my but and installed the flyscreen to keep the insects out , I would use the vent much more. Rain is not a big issue as it keeps the dust down anyway, but forgetting to close the vent when rains first appears, well...enough said!

Cheers

Captain

Phil,
As the others have said a forward facing vent should be the answer. My brother in law fitted one of these to his off road jayco swan before an around oz trip with good results. I am going to do the same with my Jayco camper, try Camec www.camec.com.au/product-rv.htm or Caravan accessories for the vents. My camper came (2nd hand) with a set of breathable ( but tightly woven) fabric covers for the vents but as others have said even this would reduce airflow.
Cheers,
Stu

We have fridge vents facing outside, and sealed around the fridge so no dust can get in to the rest of the van that way. When we had the windup van, most of the dust got in through the roof vent. The vent in the BT seems to seal OK, but we also have a thick piece of foam rubber that fits and stays in the vents for really dusty days. This idea would have worked with the wind up van too, as it would have rested on the bedding when woulnd down. Previous owners have velcroed a thin piece of foam between the screen door and the regular door of the BT. We haven't got anything there at present, but have a water door which covers the door vents and stops the dust.

HI Phils, I have no experiance with this at all, but was talking to a guy near Windorah who used air con filter pads over vents on his van,He said they worked great.