one roof vent or two

[cordyroy]

i washed the heki on our R20 this afternoon not easy off a pair of steps even though i have long arms .The C15 we had the normal two roof vents then our first Berlingo hitop only had a vent over the galley area at the back . We thought it made the interier a bit dark and as the trim was the darkish blue and pink but we got used to it ok.Any way on holiday at Littlehampton Shirley love asks anywhere to stop on the way back so looking at a map said H Q Freeborn must have a look in .We pulled in and were most impressed what a place and a real warm welcome from Neville he gave us a guided tour of all the romahomes .We were very happy with ours but on sitting in a Pullman with large heki was a real knock out light bright easy use of the table any slight problems we had solved.Neville is brilliant every word from him is true and buy with complete confidence so we did .The heki is even even better in winter as any sunlight warms the van like a green house i expect we could grow tomatoes in it .Golden rule for cleaning a heki never reach always move steps a dozen times if needed and still your next door neighbour will shout you go steady up there what me i used to put up tv aerials oooooops a long time ago....................................Mark

[Ian.C.S]

I kid myself that my berlingo loses less heat in winter because it only has one small roof light in the galley so more trapped heat.However I wonder if the heki loses heat in winter? what say you? I do like winter camping.

[peterholden]

WE have 2 Hekis, the one that came originally in the main part and I replaced the MPK rooflight in the galley with a mini heki. It lets in much more light and we have not noticed any difference in keeping the van warm. we camp in winter but rarely need to use heating although we did use the Eberspacher a little bit last week.

Peter

[Ian.C.S]

WE have 2 Hekis, the one that came originally in the main part and I replaced the MPK rooflight in the galley with a mini heki. It lets in much more light and we have not noticed any difference in keeping the van warm. we camp in winter but rarely need to use heating although we did use the Eberspacher a little bit last week.

Peter

Thankyou Peter,I am toying with doing the heki conversion exactly as you have,now I know I wont freeze

[Guest]

The Heki in the R40 has a pull across blind for nightime and, I suppose, for keeping the heat in, or out, but we never use it as we prefer to watch the stars from bed. lovely.
Colin

[lizzie]

Heki

Like Colin I have never pulled over the blind at night on my Heki. I love looking at the stars and having the early morning light. Also there appears to be no obvious heat loss and certainly no draughts. I have a friend whose Heki is of a slightly different design and that definitely requires use of piece of insulating bubble plastic and the blind at night. Not sure why.
The Heki was one of my must haves when buying my Roma but these vans are very light and airy even without.

Lizzie

[jimish]

We have just changed our HiLo for an Outlook and I had reservations about the large Heki. It looks too large in this small van and I thought it would let out the heat.
We camped out in our Daughter's drive over Christmas and it was a delight to see the stars and half way thru the night we had to open it a bit because we were too warm!
No more reservations!
By the way, to clean it stand on the seats inside. Saves falling off the step ladder, and get yourself a tube of silicone grease, rub it very sparingly on the seal: no more sticky seal..

[peterholden]

The large heki gives standing room in the middle of the vehicle. We find it invaluable.

[NomadSue]

The large heki gives standing room in the middle of the vehicle. We find it invaluable.

I have visions of you standing with your head poked out of the roof, looking around like on films. intriguing!

[peterholden]

We do that too. On starry nights we open it wide and stand on the seats to look out.

When shut but with the blinds open there is just short of 6ft from floor to rooflight cover. To be honest we only shut the blind at night in winter for the insulation, we leave it open the rest of the year. We do however close the blind in the daytime to stop the sun from overheating the inside. A tip I learned though was that in hot weather the blind should be left open a little and the mesh screen pulled across to meet it to prevent a build up of heat under the rooflight.

Peter

[Graham]

A tip I learned though was that in hot weather the blind should be left open a little and the mesh screen pulled across to meet it to prevent a build up of heat under the rooflight.

Peter

Good tip Peter, that's exactly what we do.

[derek b]

Has anyone else lost their skylight whilst driving, mine was ripped off by 90mph gusts of wind in the Highlands!! I was trying to make it to a safe haven at the time, I thought a boulder had hit the roof the noise was so loud, I managed a repair using the drivers rubber floormat, a tin tray and some fencing wire!! it worked well enough-I spent another 3 weeks up there. I got it replaced back at base-the replacement popped open in a strong headwind!! this time I didn't lose it! I now use a belt and braces method to prevent it "popping" again- a piece of dowelling and a velcro strap. I think the problem is due to the streamlined roof! it acts like the upper surface of a wing creating lift!!! so in very high winds it "sucks" the skylight open.

derek b

[Vanderella]

Hi Derek

Sorry to hear about your roof vent adventures in Scotland, sounds really bad.

Our vent started to pop up in winds, especially on the motorways. We had a Heath-Robinson system with self adhesive hooks and rubber bands to hold it shut, but even that was not sufficient.

We mentioned it to Leisuredrive when they did our habitation service, and they produced a special tool for tightening the spring arms. It is now very much better and has only sprung up once in the last year.

It was really annoying fault as you are always watching for it to pop up and cannot relax!

[jayjay]

I've lost count of the caravans/MH's I've seen driving along with their roof vents wide open. I found one ripped off at the side of the road on the A55 as well. It must be a common thing with them. Trying to get another driver's attention to point this out is quite a feat!