Tool-less But Not Clueless

When we purchased our fifth wheel, it was set up so that the two recliners sat at the end of the trailer near the big picture window. This meant that we were sitting sideways to the TV, which we didn't like. So we moved the chairs to the dining room slide-out and the couch to the big window area. All of that created a problem--the couch now covered the register vent. That meant I had to search online for a register "extender" to force the warm air under the couch and out through the front flap of material at the bottom edge of the sofa. I located one and it worked and all was well.

Then we purchased the new sofa and it has a solid panel in front. Which meant the register extender didn't work and the register was once again covered up. Sigh. It was time to get creative.

Understand that as owners of a metal box on wheels, there's not too many reasons for us to carry a lot of tools and power toys. Therefore, cutting a hole in the front panel was going to be fun. Here's what Denny did.




First we stapled around the area where we were going to cut the hole for the new round register vent purchased from an RV parts store. This was to prevent the "pleather" from tearing, stretching or moving.



The next step was to cut the "pleather" in sections so that we could staple it to the back of the kick plate to keep it taut.



Denny had to figure out a way to seal the register so he could force the hot air into the dryer vent hose and out the vent we were installing in the couch's kick plate. I had picked up a piece of plexiglass at an estate sale, figuring to use it to display membership stickers (we don't stick things on our trailer or our truck). I donated the plexiglass to a far worthier cause.



A not-so-good picture of dryer vent, hose and plexiglass covering the register vent in the floor of the trailer. You can see there are gaps between the vent and the plexiglass--these were covered with that wondrous material known as duct (or duck) tape.



The hard part was cutting the wood of the kick plate without a saw. This involved a wood bit that cuts circles, the blade of a hacksaw held by hand, files and grinding bits of our Dremel. Yes, he used those pliers on the picnic table to PULL the wood out. It wasn't pretty, folks.



Once the hole was made, we inserted the new register, stapled the pleather in place, and restapled the protective cover on the back of the kickplate.


The dryer vent hose was attached to the new round RV register.



All finished and back in place. We tested the furnace and the new register opening throws out hot air perfectly. Yay for Denny. Also notice the Indian motif of the rug and the golf motif on the throw on the couch. I'm a decorating diva, can'tcha tell?