Whitney's Weakender - Hatch / Galley Lid Redesign - Pg 11

[mikeschn]

I like it. It turned out real good!

Mike...

[Kharn]

Whitney,
Do you have a drawing detailing the hatch design? I'm a little unsure of how to modify the Weekender design so that 45 degree panel can swing with the hatch.

[WhitneyK]

Kharn,

I did my hatch seal like Planovet did his: http://littleswissteardrop.com/ (love that tear by the way), which, if I remember correctly was a Steve Frederick galley seal design. (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I want to give credit where its due)

I built my hatch in place, then measured down 2" and cut it loose.

I'm a little unsure of how to modify the Weekender design so that 45 degree panel can swing with the hatch.

Assuming the 45 degree panel you're refering to is the bottom angle. That was a concern of mine too, however, after making the cut, when you start to lift it, everything starts coming away from its mated surface. No modifications required.

I'll try to post some pics showing how it works and how I built it.

[WhitneyK]

As I'm sitting here with ice packs on my back trying to get some relief, figured I might as well catch up my post a bit.

I had my car dolly chained to the tree with a "For Sale" sign on it for a couple of weeks with no hits what so ever. Well, Saturday someone finally stopped ..... and he bought it too! Broke even on it, I think, as long as I didn't loose money. Had it for about 4 years and had yet to use it. Threw in a set of straps, chains, mag mount tail lights, but I kept the fenders. After the deal was done, the buyer saw one of the fenders leaning against my dump bed & asked "are those the fenders for the dolly?" I politely stated "they were" (past tense highly emplied). Should work out just fine

Oh ya, came up with this idea to mount the safety chains to the tongue


The aluminum skin material that I'm looking at purchasing is 103" wide. When split in half, would give me enough to fold over the top a little (1/2" is what I'm thinkin'), and extent down to the frame of the trailer. If I do this, it will cover up the uneven gap between the wall/floor/spacer/frame. My question is 1) do I want to do this? 2) do you think it will cause me any moisture issues down the road? 3) if I do extend it to the frame, do I fill the gap with silicone or something or leave it open to breathe?

My thoughts are to cover the gap, use my trim strip along the bottom edge, don't fill the gap so it can breathe. But, this is why I'm posting it, hoping to get some input. Here's what it looks like:


Come on folks, help me out here...

[Alan and Lianna]

Well, if it were me, I would fill the Gap. I believe any place moisture can get in, it will, especially while driving in the rain..

Alan

[mukulsharma]

Very funny, thanks for posting

[aggie79]

Whitney,

I hate to hear that you are having back issues. Mine will "go out" every couple of years, so I feel your pain.

Regarding extending the aluminum to cover the floor/frame, my first question is how do you plan to attach the aluminum? I'd almost be tempted to stop the aluminum at the bottom of the sidewall. Trim could be used to hold the bottom edge of the aluminum and could overlap the sidewall, floor, and part of the trailer frame to cover the gap.

As Alan said, you'll want to seal along the edge of the floor real well.

Hope you get to feeling better!

Take care,
Tom

[campmaster-k]

Whitney sorry to hear about your back. I ride my bike alot to help mine. You are doing the right thing with ice. Ice it till its numb, keep the inflammation down. Hope you are building soon.

[WhitneyK]

Thanks Alan & Tom on your ideas for my "gap". I think I'll take a day off in the middle of next week and at least go down and pick up a roll of aluminum. That way I'll have it on hand.

If this next part gets to lengthy administrators, feel free to nix it.

I, like many others, when they started their builds, wondered how to build the galley hatch. After researching as long as I could stand, I kept coming up empty handed. No one, that I could find, had documented step by step instructions on how to build one. After Kharn asked about how I built my galley hatch, I thought I would post how I did it, so here goes. My inspiration comes from Planovet & Steve Frederick, but don’t blame them if my comprehension was off. I’ll try to keep it simplified and not too long winded (too late for that). I built the hatch in place, then cut it loose after it was assembled.

My goal is / was / still hopes to be this:

My walls are of the “sandwichâ€

[Cliffmeister2000]

Very nice!

Note: My hatch is very similar to yours, and it is very heavy. I have 2 - 125 lb gas springs to assist, and they make the hatch easy to lift, but do not hold it up. I use a piece of 1" dowel to do that. I also used metal reinforcing to attach the springs to the galley, as the first time they were mounted in 2x4, and the 2x4s both split after only a few days.

I don't have a photo that I can find of the springs, here's the hatch and dowell

[Cliffmeister2000]

Here's a photo showing the gas springs before adding the metal.



I put 1/8" steel brackets on the 2x4s that were flattened on top and bottom to strengthen the point of attachment. I had no problems on the other end of the springs.

[WhitneyK]

Howdy again folks!

Well, I'm still not up to doing much work yet (thanks to my back), but thanks to my wife and our "special little helper" we got the decorations, er, uh, I mean, uh, fuctional & beneficial additions to the interior of our little camper. Thought I'd post some pics.

Our "special little helper" is our 20 lbs of love (wierd little creature) OOOWW!, Sorry Honey. Let's see, where was I? Oh ya, back to the "baby", his name is Boobers (don't ask, even though it was my idea).


Here's the interior shots after I got everything into position and securely mounted. Mounted everything like they do at Cracker Barrel, run big screws through it everywhere so it don't fall off. I also got my window frames made a week or so ago too. Wife's still wanting to put one of those vinyl letter cut out thingy's with a clever "awe inspired" "highly motivational / inspirational" saying in the center above the headboard storage. OOOWWW!!! Quit it! Sorry Dear. That's why there's a gap between the trees.


After everything was done, we raised the lid on the headboard storage area, and nosey butt had to check it out. You know what they say about curiousity?.....


... AND THERE HE GOES!

(take a look at my new avatar)

[LDK]

Hey Whitney


Your build is really looking great. I wish I had gave more thought in my hatch design like you did yours. I was wondering, how far does your locking rod expand? I bought one awhile back at a local camper supply store but I changed my mind about using it. It only expanded out maybe an inch and I didn't think that was enough. I'm just gonna use a handle and a hasp now. Here is a pic of the one I have.

[Woodstramp]

Whitney,

The camper is gonna be really sharp when finished. I really like the interior decoration.

[crumbruiser]

It's looking very nice. I want to say Thank You for posting pics of your interior. The decor adds a nice touch to the pics and it helps me get a better idea of what I'm going to build.

Frank