Drilling a hole in the roof our our 3636 Ventana

[Scobysisters]

We just purchased a Pepwave Mobility 42G cellular antenna for our Pepwave router, because we've realized and learned that having an antenna on the roof of our motorhome would enhance our ability to receive stronger cellular signals.
Question: we're a bit nervous about drilling the required 1 3/4 inch hole on the roof, not knowing what lies inside/under the roof (wires, conduit, metal, etc). We've asked Newmar, but they couldn't tell us anything.
Who on this forum has drilled a hole this size into the roof, and where did you safely drill it? We'll probably place the router inside the cabinet above the driver's seat, or perhaps inside the cabinet in the mid-bath where the breaker and fuse panels are.
thanks!

 

[Scotttkd2]

Depending on the model year, you probably have a winegard wifi ranger cellular/wifi modem on the roof currently that has wires that run into the drivers seat cabinet. I would start there before penetrating the roof anywhere else. I know others have mounted a box to the roof to attach the antennas to and then ran cables down a tank vent into basement to avoid holing the roof.

 

[Scobysisters]

Depending on the model year, you probably have a winegard wifi ranger cellular/wifi modem on the roof currently that has wires that run into the drivers seat cabinet. I would start there before penetrating the roof anywhere else. I know others have mounted a box to the roof to attach the antennas to and then ran cables down a tank vent into basement to avoid holing the roof.

We don't have a wifi ranger on the roof. I do see that the cabinet above the driver's seat has a hole at the top (covered by a plastic cover) which has a bunch of wires pushed in it. But I don't know where those wires end up.

 

[Scotttkd2]

Check your roof carefully, its likely it has satelite wiring prep from the factory that mates up with some of the wiring you are seeing. If you can post your Newmar model year someone may be able to give you more specific details.

 

[Scobysisters]

We have a 2015 Newmar Ventana 3636

 

[Scotttkd2]

Check out newgle.newmarcorp.com. You can look up specific model info and wiring diagrams for your RV. May help you pinpoint what the wiring is you are seeing above the driver cabinet. Also, Neal here has a 2017 Ventana (different model) and has done extensive research, testing and write ups on pepwave with and without external antennas. Search or scan through the technology forum for his posts, they are a wealth of info. I read up extensivley on his experience with pepwave before installing in my coach. I cant imagine a recent model Newmar without some factory wiring prep up there that you could take advantage of.

 

[Buly]

Drilling blindly holes on the roof can be very expensive. Been there done that.
Be careful.

 

[Neal]

I see you listed your coach info which is great, please complete your profile so it shows on the forum side bar and/or use the signature to show what coach you have.

I assume the compartment over your driver's seat is your AV compartment like my 2017 Ventana? I have probably done more roof drilling than most around here, both over the driver's AV compartment and also into the half bath breaker area.

You need to measure carefully and multiple times. Newmar did my first hole over the driver's seat compartment and they put blue painters tape on the outside of the coach, driver's side, that lined up the front of the cabinet (aft of the coach side) and knew to drill forward of that. I think the hole ends up being in about 2 inches into the front cap area. You'll need quite a long bit as you'll go through the top layer and then there is a middle layer. You may want to get a scope such as this one so you can drill the first hole, scope what's below as there are power cables, HDMI cables and a mess of about anything else so it's good to look first but there is also insulation packed in there so it can be a bit of effort.

 

[DKRITTER]

We installed a Pepwave Router and a Parsec antenna on our Dutch Star and yes we drilled that huge hole in the roof.
In hind sight I think we should have installed the electrical box you can find on Mobile Must Have's you tube sight because it allows for some versatility later on for future projects.

When we bought our MH it had a cable running through the roof into the cabinet in the mid bath for an in-motion sat dish we didn't use so I decided to put the Pepwave in the cabinet and the Parsec right above it.

We carefully drilled a hole only through the fiberglass and did some exploring, found some wiring for lights and moved those. Did the same thing in the cabinet and slowly fished the wire through. Everything went well we Dicored the Parsec down and ran a generous Dicor bead around it.

The router and the antenna have been a game changer as far connectivity goes. Very seldom do we even use campground Wi-Fi.

Just ordered Starlink RV yesterday with the goal of dropping the $50.00 AT&T plan and Dish Network and maybe picking up You Tube TV. We find ourselves streaming more and more at home and would like to on the road.
I burn through about 150gb a month at home and hopefully I can turn on and off Starlink as needed.

 

[Richpatty]

For future reference, when you are having a rig built, Newmar will run conduit from the roof to any location you want to make future changes/updates easier. I had one run from the roof to the cabinet above the drivers seat which has been helpful. Running one to the half bath would also be an option.