Roof air question for Prevost owners

[scanzel]

After going crazy trying to decide what type of air to install on my 89 Prevost I think I will be going with the Carrier low profile AirV HC 15,000 btu 115 v units because this is the least expensive. But the Prevost has a structural piece the length of the bus right in the center. Mounting to the side of it would put the air out of level. What have you guys done if you went the same route. Did you cut out the member and weld in a new support frame.

[cody]

I have a friend that runs a prevost and he did exactly as you suggested, he cut out the center frame member and created a frame for the air unit and then welded the new frame in and it works just fine and centered the unit, his concern was not for level as much as visual to have the unit centered.

[Ray D]

I have an 89XL and I don't have anything going down the center of the bus, I just have the roof ribs going accross and I just framed in between them.  If you want any pictures, my ductwork that I made is still exposed.  Email me at SPAM_rdrum1@sbcglobal.net


Ray D

[H3Jim]

I have a 1995 H3, and I left the center rib and offset the units 7".  The low profile units are not very obtrusive, and the offset has been fine both in looks and function.  I offset to the drivers side and their have been several benefits to doing so.

The front one dump air closer to the driver, and on the rare occasion when I have run it going down  the road, that's better.  The center unit (I have 3), is directly above my sunfrost refrigerator (would not have been had it been centered) and dumps air both to the front and the to the bathroom.  Very nice.  The rear unit has no benefits inside, but up top, it allowed me to put a solar panel beside it, in between the air conditioner and the roof mounted awning.  Those several inches were very valuable.

I would not hesitate to mount them off center.

[H3Jim]

Here is a picture of the roof real estate.  and there is still room for a deck in front.  600 watts of solar. 

[prevost82]

Like Ray I remove the center piece of steel and build a frame spanning between the roof ribs, one on each side of the opening of the A/C (front to back of the bus) then 2 pieces running cross ways one on each side of the A/C opening. I didn't want to offset the A/C like Jim.
Ron

[H3Jim]

and another from the front showing the offset more clearly.  Unless you are looking for it, the low profiles are unobtrusive enough that the offset does not stand out.  Its a lot more noticeable in the picture than in real life.

[H3Jim]

I have a 1995 H3, and I left the center rib and offset the units 7".  The low profile units are not very obtrusive, and the offset has been fine both in looks and function.  I offset to the drivers side and their have been several benefits to doing so.

The front one dumps air closer to the driver, and on the rare occasion when I have run it going down  the road, that's better.  The center unit (I have 3), is directly above my sunfrost refrigerator (would not have been had it been centered) and dumps air both to the front and the to the bathroom.  Very nice.  The rear unit has no benefits inside, but up top, it allowed me to put a solar panel beside it, in between the air conditioner and the roof mounted awning.  Those several inches were very valuable.

I would not hesitate to mount them off center.