The battery compartment in my '77 Tradewind was completely missing when I
acquired it. The battery was just sitting on the floor, out in the open. The
original exterior battery door was intact, below the front window, but the
inside opening was covered with a piece of aluminum sheet rivited over the hole.
I ended up building a U-shaped dinette in the front of the coach, with a
battery/charge controller compartment under the front seat. While I was building
the dinette, I discovered a couple of interesting features remaining from the
original construction. The first was a screen-covered hole in the floor, and
the second was a cast aluminum vent on the exterior, below the front window.
Once I removed the non-original pieces of aluminum sheet from the interior,
below the front window, it was clear that these features were part of an
original venting system for the battery. I suppose that the floor opening was the
inlet and the wall opening was the outlet.
The compartment in my dinette seat can accomodate up to 3 batteries (only one
in there now) and I supplemented the venting system with a small, low-flow
fan that draws air from the floor opening and forces it out the vent below the
window. The batteries themselves are enclosed in plastic battery boxes from
Walmart that are strapped to the floor. The boxes won't do anything for
venting, but they will contain any spills.
My battery compartment is not sealed but the venting system should prevent
any build-up of fumes. Here's a link to some photos of the dinette that show
some of the vent details.
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b352bf4325ea
Lincoln Soule
'77 Tradewind