I have been using this technique for the last year and it has served me well, so I figured I would share it. Like many of us, I use a Wave 3 propane heater in my van, and it requires ventilation. I don't have any roof fans (and for my personal reasons don't really want them) but this is how I am able to get the required square inches of ventilation, anyway.
I think we've all seen those "vent shade" things, that are made to go in your windows, so you can open your windows but not let rain in. I wanted to use those, but I didn't want to use the adhesives they come with. I wanted to be able to put them in and take them out, whenever I wanted. So this is how I do it. It's easy and quick.
So here's one of the shades. It came with an adhesive strip attached, but it was easy to peel off. (There's two of them, obviously, one for each window.)
Here's two blocks of closed-cell foam. Home Depot sells big sheets of this stuff, 1 inch thick. Since it's closed-cell, it won't get soggy in the rain, it is just basically "squishy but not absorbent". These are squares which were originally 2 inches by 2 inches (by 1 inch, the thickness of the sheet) but I cut them with a pair of scissors into the shapes shown here.
I'm starting with the one on the right:
I'm putting it in to the end of the vent shade that is closest to the side mirror, and then I close the window. After I have closed the window I can take my hand away, everything is held in place on its own:
Now I take the other piece of closed-cell foam:
And I wedge it between the window, and the frame. Because of its shape (with the pointed end), being wedged like that also has the effect of keeping the vent shade in place, too.
And voila!
I think we've all seen those "vent shade" things, that are made to go in your windows, so you can open your windows but not let rain in. I wanted to use those, but I didn't want to use the adhesives they come with. I wanted to be able to put them in and take them out, whenever I wanted. So this is how I do it. It's easy and quick.
So here's one of the shades. It came with an adhesive strip attached, but it was easy to peel off. (There's two of them, obviously, one for each window.)
Here's two blocks of closed-cell foam. Home Depot sells big sheets of this stuff, 1 inch thick. Since it's closed-cell, it won't get soggy in the rain, it is just basically "squishy but not absorbent". These are squares which were originally 2 inches by 2 inches (by 1 inch, the thickness of the sheet) but I cut them with a pair of scissors into the shapes shown here.
I'm starting with the one on the right:
I'm putting it in to the end of the vent shade that is closest to the side mirror, and then I close the window. After I have closed the window I can take my hand away, everything is held in place on its own:
Now I take the other piece of closed-cell foam:
And I wedge it between the window, and the frame. Because of its shape (with the pointed end), being wedged like that also has the effect of keeping the vent shade in place, too.
And voila!
