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Winegard Trav'ler


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I want to surprise my DH with a Winegard Travler Directv. Our MH is prewired for it so that shouldn't be a problem. My confusion is whether I need a mounting plate or a roller plate. We have a fiberglass roof.

 

I emailed Winegard and got this response:

 

The need for the mounting plate or roller plate will depend on the type of roof you have on the RV. The roller plate is recommended if you have a rubber roof. The mounting plate is recommended if you have a thin roof.

 

Their response did not help me at all. I have no idea if we have a "thin" roof. If I don't have a "thin" roof does that mean I don't need either? I don't think so.

 

They suggested I call our MH mfg. but I can't sit on the phone waiting for a rep, DH would probably walk in as soon as I got the rep.

 

Does anyone know the answer??

 

Thanks a lot

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We have a 2006 Tiffin Phaeton with a fiberglass roof. Our a factory installed King Dome was removed and our Winegard Trav'ler was mounted in the same position without any plate. You say yours is prewired, our 2004 B+ has a rubber roof and at the point the cable connection exits the roof there appears to be a 2' x 2' plate under the roof membrane to mount a satellite system to, however with it we use a Winegard Pathway X1 portable antenna not a roof mount.

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We have a fiberglass roof on our Travel Supreme trailer. The Trav'ler was installed without the roller plate, After a couple of years, the roller has worn through the gelcoat from bouncing. I repaired the worn spot and then cover it with a piece of Eternabond to act as a wear pad. The Eternabond hasn't worn since.

 

On the new motorhome with a vinyl roof, I put a piece of Eternabond as a roller plate.

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Joey - 2016 Bounder 33C Tige - 2006 40' Travel Supreme
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I want to surprise my DH with a Winegard Travler Directv. Our MH is prewired for it so that shouldn't be a problem. My confusion is whether I need a mounting plate or a roller plate. We have a fiberglass roof.

 

I emailed Winegard and got this response:

 

The need for the mounting plate or roller plate will depend on the type of roof you have on the RV. The roller plate is recommended if you have a rubber roof. The mounting plate is recommended if you have a thin roof.

 

Their response did not help me at all. I have no idea if we have a "thin" roof. If I don't have a "thin" roof does that mean I don't need either? I don't think so.

 

They suggested I call our MH mfg. but I can't sit on the phone waiting for a rep, DH would probably walk in as soon as I got the rep.

 

Does anyone know the answer??

 

Thanks a lot

What RV make & model do you have? I'm thinking you are in a Winnebago MH? If so you have a thin piece (1/8 inch thick) of wood glued to white Styrofoam with a very thin sheet of fiberglass on top of the wood.

 

Looking at the roller plate on Amazon, that is just a small 5" X 6" landing plate for the LNB roller, used to protect the roof material from the scraping action of the roller.

 

For the roof on my Winnie, a 29' class A I built a plywood box about 2.5-3" high, mounted the box to the roof and then mounted the Traveler to the box. I also built a small box the same height for the LNB to land on. I did this to be sure the LNB arm will clear the roof vent as it swings around to locate the satellite.

Al & Sharon
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San Antonio, TX

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Our MH is prewired for it so that shouldn't be a problem.

You may have the cable for the receiver there. But you will still have to run the Winegard controller cable to the roof or from the roof.

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There's the coax cable, which many RV's are pre-wired with. Then, there's the proprietary control cable which is unique to the type and brand of satellite dish unit you are installing.

Everybody wanna hear the truth, but everybody tell a lie.  Everybody wanna go to Heaven, but nobody want to die.  Albert King

 

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We had our Trav'ler installed by Camping World and was done very well contrary to many comments. Our Bounder came prewired with coax cables and a power cord for a simple Winegard dome.

 

The installer choose to not use the prewired coax cables because, like most newly delivered RVs, the sticker on the roof indicating were to cut the roof for the cable access is washed off in the dealer prep. Since the control cable needs to be run anyways, running new coax cables is not a big issue.

 

The installer placed the Trav'ler towards the rear where the bedroom TV compartment is located. The prewire location is somewhere in the front.

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Mark & Dale
Joey - 2016 Bounder 33C Tige - 2006 40' Travel Supreme
Sparky III - 2021 Mustang Mach-e, off the the Road since 2019
Useful HDT Truck, Trailer, and Full-timing Info at
www.dmbruss.com

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Ok. So pre-wire is really partly wired. Sounds like I need to find someone to install it, not a DIY install. We are not prepared to run wire if there is no conduit built into the MH and we don't know the answer to that. Bummer.....................Is there a conduit that runs the length of the roof for wires? I thought the roofs were solid styrofoam or whatever and channels for the ducts were cut in it. If there is no conduit or channel I don't see how you could run more cable. This is getting to be so involved..................Never an easy path for a RV.

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No conduits. Usually an install will go through the roof into a compartment near to or in the compartment where the receiver will be located. For many motorhomes, that is the compartments over the driver.

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Mark & Dale
Joey - 2016 Bounder 33C Tige - 2006 40' Travel Supreme
Sparky III - 2021 Mustang Mach-e, off the the Road since 2019
Useful HDT Truck, Trailer, and Full-timing Info at
www.dmbruss.com

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  • 1 month later...

We have a Cedar Creek 5th wheel and just installed the Trav'ler a few months ago ourselves with little to no issues.

 

The trailer was "pre-wired for the Trav'ler" what this meant in my case was there was a sticker on the roof indicating where to cut the hole and inside of it I found 3 wires; one was the power wire specific to the Trav'ler, one coax (color coded) for the living room and one for the bedroom. Neither coax had an end on them.

 

It seemed to me the mounting plate was cheap insurance so I went with that but at least get the little plate for the roller to land on so that over time you don't hurt the roof.

 

Hardest part was hoisting it up on the roof with a few ropes, then I found a good location for it and just followed the instructions.

 

The Trav'ler is made up of a few significant pieces; first is it is from what I understand the same dish as one on a house, then a motorized pointing/stowing device and lastly a control box which goes inside the vehicle and tells the trav'ler what to do.

 

Not sure why but the Trav'ler connection was in the bedroom closet and again I took a plate off and fished out the Trav'ler power wire and plugged it into the control box and 110v and the dish deploys finds the satellites and locks on in a couple of minutes. It's cool to watch it dance. I hooked up the sat coax to the 211 and we were good.

 

We had to reprogram our 211Z and tell it, it was using the trav'ler and not a tailgater style antenna.

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We had a Winegard Trav'ller installed last winter. I called Winnebago before installing. They said it was not required but they recommended using the baseplate, so that is what I did. I would think that necessary or not, it would add stability to the unit and allow it to withstand higher winds than otherwise.

2005 Winnebago Voyage 38J

 

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