Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Denman
That might work... assuming that your covered-up air tabs aren't creating a worse than normal aero-package... 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blw2
yeah, probably as good as it would get.....
but how to cover them without making a negative impact?
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The beauty of what I propose is that a “negative” impact on aerodynamics, compared to a baseline of standard motorhome, would make air tabs look even better. If we accidentally made the motorhome aerodynamically dirtier by covering the air tabs, then that part of the fuel economy test would be even lower, making air tab improvement seem higher. We’d be giving the air tabs all the realistic benefits of the test. If under those conditions they still don’t work to improve MPG significantly, then I’d write them off.
Actually, the worst case test scenario would be if covered-up air tabs reduced drag compared to baseline of a plain motorhome. Depending on how they are covered over, the odds of this happening are next to zero, otherwise we’d have to believe that any appendage attached to back sides of MH would also reduce drag. Theoretically possible, but not likely at all.
By the way, I’d try finding tape that sticks well that wouldn’t damage the MH’s finish. I’d them cover the row of air tabs on each side with vertical thick vinyl strip or similar material, tapped at front and back.
The only other option I can think of would be to run test with air tabs first, then pull them off quickly and repeat test without them. I was just trying to come up with test that wouldn’t require modifying MH semi-permanently.
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