Chinook RV

In the process of my galley remodel, I was wondering if reinstalling a hood vent over my new two burner cook top is really necessary. The OEM unit was big, loud and ducted the air to the interior. My plan is not to use the old unit. I would like to install stainless sheets for the walls and under cabinet around the new cooktop for safety and ease of cleaning. The monitor panel is easily removed from the vent enclosure, so it can be repositioned in the new cabinet work with no problem. I thought of a hood vent that ducts to the outside, but they're still too big, and venting issues and damper designs may not be worth the extra trouble. Has anyone been able to survive without a hood fan?

Are you still using the propane fridge? I've thought about running some kind of vent fan from the stove area up to the rooftop fridge vent area. There's nothing inside my chinook, but I plan on putting a small counter where the stove would be for using the propane camp stove if it's rainy out. Might be nice to have a vent fan in those situations.

I removed the hood "vent" basically right when I bought the Chinook. It didn't do anything other than make it impossible to see what I was cooking. Probably cooked 500 meals since then with no regrets. There's a roof vent directly over the galley, so in the rare cases that require major ventilation, I just run that fan. It airs out quickly. Bright LED lighting under the microwave cabinet is much better than the stock light.

I took mine out three years ago. I did plan to replace it, but had an issue sourcing the really cool Dometic one I wanted to replace it with (not available in the US, but it's flush to the cabinet and the fan is on the roof pulling vs. in the room pushing). That said, as time has gone by I have discovered it is not essential for me. I still may try to get that one...? Possible factors:

1) I'm mostly in dryer climates.
2) I don't boil giant pots of water with no lid.
3) If I cook fish, I have typically done it outside (even when I had the hood and likewise in my previous camper van).
4) I don't do things like deep fry indoors.

I did stick a cookie sheet type thing to the underside of the upper cabinet (mine is at the height of all the other upper cabinets and sticks out the same amount as they do also --- I don't have the microwave cabinet anymore). That could also be some "niftier" piece of metal.

Possible other options for fannage:

1) Try to source one of the nifty foreign Dometic ones (I may have a lead on this).
2) Install a roof vent in the center hump between the stove and sink (some Chinooks came with the vent there - such as Scott's).
3) Use the existing roof vents to pull out moisture.

By the way, I'll put in a good word for replacing the monitor panel with something else, if you are so inclined. (You are right though, it's easy to relocate just that stock panel.) I went with a See-Level panel. They have various combinations available, but I went for one that measures the three holding tanks (water, grey, black) plus the propane tank. The battery voltage measurement was unnecessary for me as I have other "real" battery monitors. The panel is much smaller, and the tank levels are in percents (38%, 72%, etc.) vs. thirds. The actual monitor pieces just stick on the outside of the tanks for the water/waste tanks (if you have insulated tanks you'd have to scrape off a bit of insulation), and the propane one just uses the same wire as the propane monitor does now (thus nothing to stick on that tank).

Mine isn't installed yet but I have used them on other people's rigs and my understanding is that the original wires that came to the stock monitor can just be re-used (it's so easy to be lazy when three out of four of the tanks can simply be seen with the eyeballs - grey tank is the only one that is a mystery without the monitor).

No propane fridge. Vitrifrigo AC/DC w/remote compressor to be positioned under the microwave (old stove location) with extended countertop to the back closet wall. The new two burner cook top is located in the old fridge location. My original plan was to maintain a narrow air shaft, using the old fridge exterior access door and roof vent for an outside ducted hood fan. But these stock hood vents are too big and still protrude into the hallway much to far in my new floorpan. At eye level, you would still need to do the "Limbo" while cooking.
I did find this mod very interesting... a cooking sheet and two computer fans.

Blue~Go wrote: September 10th, 2018, 9:05 am I took mine out three years ago. I did plan to replace it, but had an issue sourcing the really cool Dometic one I wanted to replace it with (not available in the US, but it's flush to the cabinet and the fan is on the roof pulling vs. in the room pushing). That said, as time has gone by I have discovered it is not essential for me. I still may try to get that one...?

Blue...this is what a search came up with: Dometic CK 400 extractor hood vent. Is this the unit you were thinking of?
I like it! Uses a simple dryer-type duct hose to vent.

Hoosier, do you have a pic of your extended countertop setup?

eporter123 wrote: September 10th, 2018, 10:24 am Hoosier, do you have a pic of your extended countertop setup?

I will, when it's completed.
In the meantime, this is diagram of the galley remodel. The narrower depth of base cabinets gain almost 6 extra inches to the aisle! Plus an additional 30" of counter space. The SMEV cooktop is recessed with a flush lid for more surface area as well. I got the idea from Blue-Go's remodel yanking out the old refer. Man, what a difference. The hardest part was locating the last of the "Dusk" Corian (discontinued) to fabricate the matching countertop and then having to do all the construction myself when my "carpenter-guy" moved out of town.

C'mon, we all like progress pics!

I just read through the whole "remodeling refrigerator and stove area" thread and got some good ideas in there. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17&hilit=counter&start=70

I'm currently placing bulkheads in my rig, and trying to figure out ideal sizing/depths. I don't see any dims on your drawing, but it looks like you have the cabinet/counters in-line with the back door, so ~20" deep at the base? I'm thinking of adding a "notch" into my bulkhead to let a counter span the area, definitely looks like a better setup than another vertical wall.

I know most of us are not doing much deep frying and major cooking like a food truck, but I feel that running the vent to the fridge may not be a good idea:
1, the hot air may not be a good thing for the fridge to operate efficiently.
2, the grease may coat the tubing, and if it start to drip, it may get ignited by the propane, and start a fire.

For me, one good thing about being short is that I don't need to do any Limbo