Air deflector

Based upon info from this site and others, I designed, built and installed this air deflector onto my camper this last weekend. It is constructed from vinyl fence posts, 4"X4", glued and screwed in place with construction adhesive. Sealed the edge adjoining the camper with silicone caulking and taped off the front point with metal tape. Painted the tape white to match. Have not as yet taken it out on the road to see what improvements it will make but will be doing so over Memorial Day weekend. Will report back my findings re gas mileage improvement, wind noise etc.

Good idea, please report back how do you like it after your trip.

Looks like some good work there pop!

Pop-pop

Nice work. I'm looking forward to your report.

Based upon info from this site and others, I designed, built and installed this air deflector onto my camper this last weekend. It is constructed from vinyl fence posts, 4"X4", glued and screwed in place with construction adhesive. Sealed the edge adjoining the camper with silicone caulking and taped off the front point with metal tape. Painted the tape white to match. Have not as yet taken it out on the road to see what improvements it will make but will be doing so over Memorial Day weekend. Will report back my findings re gas mileage improvement, wind noise etc.


I have been considering this too. One concern I have is clearance. There is very little room between the truck roof and the deflector additions. Under offroad flex will the deflectors hit the roof? In other words when you are swaying side to side could the bed flex enough to allow contact?

Keith

I went with one mounted on the roof of the truck via a rack, reason being flex and greater deflection. It cost a bit more and was more work, but thus far, it has been great. See pic in avatar...

In reply to dorocks re flex during offroading;Truck frame flexing is a concern however my truck is a 3/4 ton and I don't do extreme off-roading, therefore do not experience a lot of flexing. Will be keeping an eye on this during my trip over memorial day. Kodachrome;Yours was one of the designs I looked at when deciding just what I was going to do. For all I intend to keep a log of my gas mileage and other factors like wind noise and handling changes. Will report back findings and post some pictures after my trip.

Back after almost 1300 miles and the air deflector was a success. It improved my mileage from 10MPG to at least 12MPG. It also made the truck much more stable down the road, it tracked better. Air noise seemed to be less but that is subjective. I realized mileage of 11-14 MPG, 11 into a head wind from Caliente to Tonopah and 14 from Bishop home to Glendora. Prior to installation I got 10 at best. Without the camper mounted and a shell on the truck I would regularly get 16+ MPG. Almost back to what I was getting before the camper. Well worth a day's work to install.

Pop-pop, thanks. I know what I will do this weekend.

I went with one mounted on the roof of the truck via a rack, reason being flex and greater deflection. It cost a bit more and was more work, but thus far, it has been great. See pic in avatar...


Did you ever do a write up on the parts and how-to?

Keith

Dorocks:I used 4X4" 6' long vinyl fence posts from Lowes. I snapped a chaulk line from the mid point of the front edge to each side of the rear portion of the overhange. This was my outside edge of the pieces installed. Then used a protractor to measure the angle of the end cuts. I then cut a few templates from some scrap wood to get the cuts exactly right before cutting the posts. Using some jury rigged helpers, 2X4s attached to a hand truck and a ladder to help position the pieces to confirm the fit. Once I was satisfied with the fit, I drilled two holes at each end for the screws and washers, used #10X1.25 long. I drilled through both what would be the top and bottom edges of the posts so that I could insert a long screwdriver straight through the bottom and access the screws from the inside of the top edge. The holes in the top edge were drilled smaller in order to hold the screws in place while I accessed them via the holes in the bottom edge. Hope I explained that well enough, wished I could add drawings. Then with all this ready I applied three beads of construction adhesive, Locktite exterior grade, all along the length of each post and a bit extra at each end and around the screw holes. Again using my jury rigged helpers, I placed each post in place using the chaulk lines for guides and tightened the screws. The wood on the camper appeared to be quite soft so I used care not to over tighten and strip out the holes. Let everything setup overnight, then taped off the from point with some metal duct tape and spray painted white to match. I used some white chaulk to seal the access holes for the screws, thought they might whistle in the wind, and the rear edges were they meet the camper body. I think that about covers it, but will be more than happy to answer additional questions or take additional pictures if that can help.

Inspired by this and other air deflector reports I decided to make one too. But I was not too sure about the air flow and most interested in an over the cab storage area. Most important was my Outback Shower tent (many thanks to all those who recommended this in other threads). It is about 24inch diameter so I figured a 26 inch diameter curve to the front of my air deflector would be about right.



I also worried that there might be a reason for the gap between the top of the cab and the bottom of the Eagle overhang. I don't know how much flex there is in a truck on a rough road. So I wanted an air deflector that could compress if compressed. I made sides out of rubber ( old rubber roofing material I had hanging around and covered that with under kitchen cabinet kick plate "roppe" from HD,



In addition I wanted to save as much weight as I could so my base was 1/2 inch ply full of whole and later covered with tek wrap one side plastic the other metal foil.



Finally I left a gap in one side just big enough for the Outback.
On the front side the "door" to this area fits in with a pin. On the back side velcro and a clamp held on with a wing nut (got to get me into the picture somehow).






The final product looks good, actually it is often difficult to notice.


The space holds - one Outback tent, 2 canoe paddles, 2 pair walking poles, 2 canoe gel seat cushions, and who knows what else.

I have road tested up to 55 mph with no ill effects. Managed to keep up with a Miata through the curvy section on the way home.
No data on mpg.

Well the pictures that accompany the above are not always those I selected. If you want to see the full set go to the members gallery and look for Over Cab Cabinet.

I put a yakima fairing and storage basket on my tundra/hawk combo. We store our beach chairs there and it's much quieter. When the camper is off the truck, the rack is useful for carrying long stuff.

I put a yakima fairing and storage basket on my tundra/hawk combo. We store our beach chairs there and it's much quieter. When the camper is off the truck, the rack is useful for carrying long stuff.

Could you post a photo of your set-up?

Sure, Rambler. You caught me just in time, before I mount the camper this morning.
I'll snap a couple of shots of the rack before and after. The yakima basket is the least expensive model ($90), because it can mount between the bars for maximum access. The basket could also be put up on my roof of my camper, so I feel it's gonna be pretty useful. I did do a minor mod where the bolts hold the basket by the side, since it was only supported by the friction of tightening the wingnuts. I cut a chunk of 3/8" rubber and stuck it in the height adjustment slot on the basket, so it won't slip down any lower. It sits about 1/2" off the roof of the cab, but did not hit at any time, even while doing serious 4WD. Hope that makes sense. Pics later.

Let's see if I can master inserting a photo for you:


Yakima bars & fairing with basketcase (I think that's the name for the $99 storage basket they make)

And another


A close up of the sliding slot adjustment where I have stuffed a chunk of rubber and wrapped with electrical tape so the basket doesn't slide down onto the cab of my truck.




with chairs loaded. There's not much room, so the chairs need to be fairly compact.

and finally

All ready for a trip to Mendocino!

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the photos. It has been a busy week and I have spent very little time on the internet. We have an F-150 and I am told that our Hawk is scheduled for production this week.

Nice kayaks! Can't wait to get our "escape capsule".

Does the Yakima deflector improve your gas milage?

Doubt it does much for MPG but the wind noise is diminished.

The camper/kayaking combo is a bit of a chore, but does offer a lot of opportunity to get out there.


Thanks for the photos. It has been a busy week and I have spent very little time on the internet. We have an F-150 and I am told that our Hawk is scheduled for production this week.

Nice kayaks! Can't wait to get our "escape capsule".

Does the Yakima deflector improve your gas milage?

Lighthawk:
Hope you don't mind, but I took some ideas from your wind deflector thing. Hadf the yakima racks, bought that basket (what a great place for stinky, wet waders, or dog food!), and had some plexiglass laying around so made a deflector.
Nothing fancy, but I hope it works..
What do ya'll think? Is the angle good?

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