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tbomn · 06-27-2012, 06:31 PM

After the full body paint, and some interior upgrades it is time for the satellite dish upgrade. I have a single LNB standard definition dish up on top at present and want to replace it with a new Winegard SK-3005 Trav'ler for the Directv HD receivers I already have. I have been doing searches on this forum to get info about the change and have gathered a bunch of information. The info that I need now is this: The old dish needs to be removed of course, but what am I going to find under this dish?? I know it has a crank inside, so it must have a shaft that goes through the roof, or is there a large hole..??? The Trav'ler only has cables and wires that need to go through the roof, and that posses no problems....but what am I going to have to seal up from the old dish??

Any help is appreciated,
Joe

tomsm · 06-27-2012, 06:41 PM

Joe - you will be left with a hole. Can't remember exactly how big, but it's not a problem. The SK3005 base will cover and seal the top end of the hole. People have come up with clever ways to cover the bottom of the hole. I just mounted a smoke alarm over it.

Good luck with the project...

smlranger · 06-27-2012, 08:32 PM

As noted, the base of the Trav'lr will cover the hole. However, if you still have concerns, you could put some eternabond tape over the hole before you install the new dish.

As to the inside hole, using a smoke detector is a great idea. Cut a round plug of some styrofoam for the hole and put the smoke detector over it and you should be good to go.

You will love that Trav'lr. It always finds the birds and I am always amazed how consistent it works.

tbomn · 06-27-2012, 08:38 PM

What is the best sealant to us when installing the dish base??

tomsm · 06-28-2012, 08:25 AM

I had intended to fill the hole, after mounting the new dish, with Great Stuff Door and Window foam sealant. That stuff would easily expand to fill the hole, seal against the bottom of the new dish, and could be cut off level with the ceiling. However, I decided to leave the hole open. I felt that I wanted to know if any water was getting under the dish base, as a indicator that maybe the base was loosening. I can twist the smoke detector off it's base and look at the base of the dish and inspect for any water marks on the styrofoam. After 2 years it still looks pristine in there.

As for sealing around the base of the dish, I used Dicor self leveling and lots of it. I believe the instructions call for a bead of sealant on the roof around the perimeter where the screws go into the roof. After the dish was mounted, I covered everything from inboard of the screw heads to well outside the perimeter of the base. It took several (2-3) tubes of Dicor.

I'm sure some have used Eternabond, but I wasn't confident that I could get a good seal going around the curve of the base.

Clay L · 06-28-2012, 08:27 AM

Bill Adams installed mine and he used Dicor to fill the hole for the wires to the elevation display.
He put a sheet of something on the roof over the the hole the dish mechanism came through and I used expanding foam to fill it from the bottom then glued a couple of 3 1/4 inch round disks intended as wall protectors for door knobs over it and the elevation display hole. They are totally unnoticeable.