Dinosawus
Forum Member
I installed a Dometic Seitz Heki 2 in my campervan roof which is great for light and fresh air but the build quality of these units is terrible, probably to keep the weight down, and after a few months and a few scrapes on low hanging trees the hinges snapped. The hinges are one piece plastic molded and not really up to the forces of an adventure campervan.
Here is the method I used to replace the standard plastic hinges with heavy duty galvanised gate T hinges.
I cut down the length of the T hinge to match the original hinge connector and drilled out holes in the hinge to match the plastic studs of the hinge connector. I then used the same connector to fix the gate hinge to the sunroof making a very secure connection. The bottom plate of the hinge was screwed into the plastic surround of the sunroof for a secure fix to the van. The repair has worked very well and is much stronger than the original hinges giving peace of mind that the damn thing wont fly off on the motorway. The roof does sit a little bit higher at the hinge end but doesn't affect road noise.
In future I will look to replace this unit with something like a sky hatch as used on overland vehicles but they are pricey.
Some examples of sky hatch:
KTC https://rre-global.com/kct/
Motorcraft https://www.motorcraftadventuredevelopments.com/copy-of-sky-hatch-2
The other advantage being they are winterised where as the Heki lets in so much cold air its really only suitable for summer use.
Here is the method I used to replace the standard plastic hinges with heavy duty galvanised gate T hinges.
I cut down the length of the T hinge to match the original hinge connector and drilled out holes in the hinge to match the plastic studs of the hinge connector. I then used the same connector to fix the gate hinge to the sunroof making a very secure connection. The bottom plate of the hinge was screwed into the plastic surround of the sunroof for a secure fix to the van. The repair has worked very well and is much stronger than the original hinges giving peace of mind that the damn thing wont fly off on the motorway. The roof does sit a little bit higher at the hinge end but doesn't affect road noise.
In future I will look to replace this unit with something like a sky hatch as used on overland vehicles but they are pricey.
Some examples of sky hatch:
KTC https://rre-global.com/kct/
Motorcraft https://www.motorcraftadventuredevelopments.com/copy-of-sky-hatch-2
The other advantage being they are winterised where as the Heki lets in so much cold air its really only suitable for summer use.