Once that's done a "plenum chamber" is created to allow for the different shapes of external and internal openings and to mount an additional fan to help with getting the air out.
This is all a bit of guesswork as nowhere can I find a figure for the amount of air required to keep the generator cool. So I have started with the area of the exhaust outlet and tried to make sure it didn't get restricted on the way. Unfortunately the final vent is the largest I can find to still fit in this area and the actual open area of the vent is about 50% of the generator outlet. This is why I have added the fan. It's an industrial version moving 600 cubic metres / hour. It will be plugged into the second outlet on the generator so will always run when the generator is running.
Next some more of the dreaded "hacking holes in the hull". Start with a small hole in each corner
Tape around the area to be cut out to prevent the jigsaw scratching the fibreglass and "jig-saw away"....
Next seal up all the inside of the box as the vent while looking nice will not be particularly weatherproof and one of the sort I made for the other vents would be a bit restrictive . . there is already one on the input side. This way any water getting inside will dry out without damaging the timber areas. If it proves ineffective in practice I will just have to provide a drain outlet.
From here on a plain box can be created with a hole into the plenum chamber for the fan
which is then fitted so that the generator exhaust is directed into it.
The idea is that it will push air out faster than the generator requires and will help pull air through the generator keeping it cool. The box will be sealed by the door which has the inlet vent at the other end to the exhaust outlet and is directly opposite the generator input. A little more work is required to get that to seal properly.
In the mean time I have quite a lot of foam panel lying around from other parts of the project which in the normal course of events would probably end up in the bin. The interior will be lined with this to reduce noise inside and outside the house but in the mean time I have some extra as well so that can go on the outside of the ceiling panel before it's screwed in place.
This entire construction has been put together without glue as it covers all the bed lifting mechanism which if it ever goes wrong will need to be accessed.
Fingers crossed that never happens . . .
Finally around the outside to silicone the vent panel in place.
It's a very attractive anodised aluminium piece but as you can see wont do much about the weather.
While putting all this in place I also happened to notice that I had not put the final "nyloc" nut on the bike carrier support arms. Nylocs are (in the aircraft industry at least) only used once! They become rapidly ineffective at being a "lock nut" the more they are taken on and off so I had been using plain nuts until I was ready to leave them there. As this generator enclosure also covers the nut it needed to be finally fitted which meant that I had to grab hold of the bar with a stillson wrench in order to stop everything slipping.
They work well but make an ugly mess of anything they get hold of . . .
Looks like there is a bit of extra cleaning up required around the seal area . . . .
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