HELP! Foamie hatch hinge and props fix.
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 11:00 amMy years of living without real hatch props finally caught up to me. A gust of wind pulled my hatch on top of the teardrop and ripped it off the piano hinge last weekend. Now I'm at a loss for how to best fix it up to get camping again. Luckily we keep a set of ratchet straps in the car to tow it home safely. We generally don't use the back for cooking due to fear of bears. With that said, I'd still like to keep any attachments or drilling of the countertop to a minimum.
I'm looking to reattach the hatch to the piano hinge and create real hatch supports that are hard connected on each end to prevent wind. I know how I'll fix the hinge, but I'm stuck on the supports. I've never figured out a good way to do them so I just put it off... for five years.
Some background on my teardrop:
Foamie - quickie 1 month build. There are no wood supports on the sidewalls above the countertop. The backwall and countertop of the galley is 1/2" plywood.
Hatch is framed with 1x2's (side to side) and 3/4" plywood (for the curved up/down) then skinned with 2 layers of 1/2" foam.
The up/down framing of the hatch is built to slide inside the side walls (not line up to the wall when closed)
Hatch is no where near watertight (no seal on the bottom, spotty seals on the side) so lining up perfectly is not a huge concern.
There is a wood 2x3 as the rear bumper, but it doesn't align with any framing above it.
So I need hatch prop ideas that will work with my wonky, not-planned, current setup. I've read through a bunch of threads but have had difficulty applying it to my foamie. There's two main problems that have been my stumbling blocks:
1. The framing in the hatch does not line up parallel or perpendicular to any of the body teardrop parts. Any prop attachments need to be able to be held on at an angle. See pic of my "temporary" wood prop
2. Being a foamie, there's no wood on the sidewalls of the teardrop above the countertop. This makes attachment points for screws limited.The back galley wall and countertop are 1/2" ply.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XG0hWLaBU9Rm9JUUx1Z0M4Z0VvYXFNbWlvT19PQV9ueHdz
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XG0hWLaBU9cTVGWjZ0Q1NsRlV5RzBkdkVjOWdDbmRxZWNB
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XG0hWLaBU9VFVHWnl6a1J6SnROZEFyanIzQ3lTU0NEbUc0
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XG0hWLaBU9Z1ljYWJSOWxPeEF0YVRFT2V2VEFlT2ZZMVh3
I'm looking to reattach the hatch to the piano hinge and create real hatch supports that are hard connected on each end to prevent wind. I know how I'll fix the hinge, but I'm stuck on the supports. I've never figured out a good way to do them so I just put it off... for five years.
Some background on my teardrop:
Foamie - quickie 1 month build. There are no wood supports on the sidewalls above the countertop. The backwall and countertop of the galley is 1/2" plywood.
Hatch is framed with 1x2's (side to side) and 3/4" plywood (for the curved up/down) then skinned with 2 layers of 1/2" foam.
The up/down framing of the hatch is built to slide inside the side walls (not line up to the wall when closed)
Hatch is no where near watertight (no seal on the bottom, spotty seals on the side) so lining up perfectly is not a huge concern.
There is a wood 2x3 as the rear bumper, but it doesn't align with any framing above it.
So I need hatch prop ideas that will work with my wonky, not-planned, current setup. I've read through a bunch of threads but have had difficulty applying it to my foamie. There's two main problems that have been my stumbling blocks:
1. The framing in the hatch does not line up parallel or perpendicular to any of the body teardrop parts. Any prop attachments need to be able to be held on at an angle. See pic of my "temporary" wood prop
2. Being a foamie, there's no wood on the sidewalls of the teardrop above the countertop. This makes attachment points for screws limited.The back galley wall and countertop are 1/2" ply.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XG0hWLaBU9Rm9JUUx1Z0M4Z0VvYXFNbWlvT19PQV9ueHdz
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XG0hWLaBU9cTVGWjZ0Q1NsRlV5RzBkdkVjOWdDbmRxZWNB
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XG0hWLaBU9VFVHWnl6a1J6SnROZEFyanIzQ3lTU0NEbUc0
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XG0hWLaBU9Z1ljYWJSOWxPeEF0YVRFT2V2VEFlT2ZZMVh3