steinair vents

[prkaye]

Anybody here used the Steinair aluminum vents on a side-by-side RV? Is it worth the 200 bucks? Do they fit using the same attach brackets as you have to make for Vans stock vents? What size vents should be used 1 1/4" or 1 3/4" ?

[Geico266]

You WILL be disappointed if you choose the 1 1/4" vents.

[Greg Arehart]

Phil,

Not flying yet, but I got the larger vents (otherwise you are restricting your airflow in the vent). I presume they would mount in the same bracket, but I actually mounted mine in the LL and LR corners of the panel. They do require a fairly large hole (2.75 as I recall). My rationale was that these are moving parts that will be fiddled with constantly as seasons, altitude, etc. change, so I wanted something more substantial than the plastic ones. Plus the black ones match my panel. They certainly seem to be high-quality vents. Worth $100 each..... well, remember these are airplane dollars we are talking here.

cheers,
greg

[N941WR]

Phil,

My aluminum vents were a gift from a friend and although similar to Stein's they are different. That said, spend the money for Stein's!!!

We where home in Northern Michigan for Easter and the morning we left it was 15* above zero on the ground and colder, much colder at 11,500 as we sailed over Detroit on the way south.

The aluminum vents closed tight and did not leak air on that or any flight. The RV's that I have flown in with the standard plastic vents leak, simple as that.

Since you live in The Great White North, I HIGHLY recommend the vents and installing push rod boots to help keep the cold air out from under your seats.
Here are some links:
Sam Buchanan (Scroll down about half way)
FLIGHTLINE INTERIORS

[Tony Spicer]

Originally Posted by Geico266

You WILL be disappointed if you choose the 1 1/4" vents.

Strongly disagree with that observation. I have the 1 1/4 vent in my -3, and if I wore a toupee that small vent could surely blow it off. Leave the neck down adaptor off and you can hook 2" scat directly to the vent.

Tony

[kentb]

I already have the Van's black plastic vents installed (times two). What would be involved to switch over to the better vents?

Kent

[SteinAir]

I had those vents in both RV6's we built, plus the RV7. Personally, I use the smaller ones, not the larger ones because the smaller ones only take a 2" hole verses the large hole for the other.

Both of them attach directly to 2" scat tubing, but the smaller ones take up less room and still fit nicely on the outer lower corners of the panel. My old black RV6 had them up in the corners of the panel (because that was back when we actually cut our own NACA duct holes) and could route the tubing up there.

Large or small you'll be much happier with them over the plastic ones from Van's. These are also quite a bit higher quality than some of the other metal ones sold (with the exception of the Wemac brand vents which are typically priced at well over $150 each). These are almost identical in construction to the Wemac brand vents and some of the parts are interchangeable. Differences between these and other "metal vents" - Those other ones are almost purely metal on metal with a little puny felt strip between the eyeball and body. These use a UHMW bushing, held in place by a spring band internally. There is no metal to metal rubbing. The mechanism which closes them is also quite superior. Some of the other ones are so sloppy they actually had to put a white sticker dot on the butterfly telling the owner to "push here" to assist with the opening. Granted, they are still FAR, FAR superior to the junk ones from Van's, but nothing like these.

To me, the plastic vents from Van's aren't worth the powder to blow them up, but then again that's my personal opinion.

Mounting of our vents is super simple. Drill a hole to size, put the vent in and screw on the nut ring from the back. No ear to put screws/nut on, etc.. Simply hook up the 2" scat tube (for either the large or small vent) and you're done.

I have the smaller ones in my plane, but some friends have the larger ones. Both are good, but I've always been pretty satisfied with the smaller ones myself.

My 2 cents as usual.

Cheers,
Stein

[rv9aviator]

Hi Stein,
I was over at TruTrak the other day and as I walked out in the hanger I saw a very familiar green RV sitting there and I immediately recognized it to be yours. I thought I was going to get to introduce myself and say hello, but then Zach told me you had sold the plane and the new owner brought it in.
Oh well, just my luck.

[SteinAir]

Originally Posted by rv9aviator

Hi Stein,
I was over at TruTrak the other day and as I walked out in the hanger I saw a very familiar green RV sitting there and I immediately recognized it to be yours. I thought I was going to get to introduce myself and say hello, but then Zach told me you had sold the plane and the new owner brought it in.
Oh well, just my luck.

Indeed the Green Hornet has a new home - it now lives under the wing of a B-25 in Texas! It's kind of a weird story how it ended up in the TruTrak hangar. Doug Rozendaal was in the process of moving the Travelair Mystery Ship around for Matt Younkin, and as it happened we needed the plane taken to TX, so Doug used my old trusty RV6 as his mount flying it from IA to AR, then moving the Mystery Ship around, then taking my bird over to TX to the new owner - then checking the new owner out in the plane. It lived in TruTrak's hangar for a couple of days (where a couple of my good TruTrak friends took care of a few sqwaks for me), then after Doug finished bopping around in the Mystery ship, he took off with the plane to Texas where it calls home now. It's sad to see it go, but it had to happen in order to finance the next project...

Cheers,
Stein

PS, sorry for the thread drift!

[LifeofReiley]

I saw the RV6 Stein plane at Taylor T74 a week ago... Not Stein... didn't wave back.