Our teardrop build: the Wild Hare

[MoparCzy]

Greetings; New to the forum. My wife and I have been bitten and are in the process of designing a teardrop to build hopefully next year. after much searching, we have decided to go with a much modified 5'x10' design that looks a bit like the traditional Ken-Skil in the front with a Benroy look at the back but split the galley hatch at the direction change from sloped to vertical. We want to have the sloped part open up like most tears, but make the lower part a full width door and install a swing up counter on it so I can have the stove on that when parked and all put away when towing. My question has to do with the sealing of the lower door portion. If i design it to open to the right, what method would I use to seal the bottom and left sides. I assume I would need to work out some kind of seal for the top where the galley hatch closes but that would be a normal thing. Thanks for your help. I would love to post a sketch but am not sure exactly how to go about that.

 

[Cody Pendant-TNT]

Try this link for help with pics.

http://www.mikenchell.com/pichelp.html

Then the guys here might be able to make recommendations.

Personally I prefer some sort of bulb seal as opposed to the flat foam seals. I would venture that it would be similar situation to sealing the side door of the trailer.

There are some who have done something similar to what you describe, so I will leave it to them for further discussion.

 

[Mauleskinner]

I would think that you could use the same sealing system for the left and bottom that would be used on a normal hatch...by the time you get to the "nearly closed" point, any edges would be nearly lined up.

As Cody said, the experts who have done it already will probably chime in, but I think your biggest problem is going to be eliminating sag on the side-opening portion, and that should be reasonably easy to deal with as well.

Good luck!

David

 

[MoparCzy]

I was kind of figuring on using one of those offset hinges that Grant sells for the side doors on the lower hatch door. I know that a 5' piece of wood with a counter top attached can get heavy. The plan is to have drop down legs to support the outer end and probably the front of the counter as well. One good thing about our design, the upper hatch has no curve so I won't have to worry about spring back. When I get time I will go through the suggestions on getting stuff ready to post and post the drawings I have made. I still need to work out the actual lower door but I have a good start on it.

 

[MoparCzy]

Okay, I was able to scan my first draft of the profile. I do not have a good drawing of the upper/lower hatch area yet. You can find the profile in my personal album.

 

[mikeschn]

 

[TimJones-TNT]

Looks like maybe three feet to the back of your cabinets, than with the fiip up shelf over 4 feet. tryed to reach across a piece of plywood and get to the back of it for something?

 

[mikeschn]

How about something like this...

Mike...

 

[MoparCzy]

The upper cabinets in the back would just be for food storage. I am near 6' tall and do the cooking so I don't see a problem getting in there. Plus this is just a rough idea for the galley so still subject to much change during constrution.

Looks like maybe three feet to the back of your cabinets, than with the fiip up shelf over 4 feet. tryed to reach across a piece of plywood and get to the back of it for something?

 

[MoparCzy]

Sort of, except that the hatch will swing open to the curb side and have a counter that swings up attached to the inside. That is where I plan on setting up the stove when cooking and the dish pans when washing dishes. I am working on getting the designed height so that the counter is no higher than one in your kitchen at home. Going to use a torsion axle with 23" diameter tires so it should end up in the low 30" range for counter height.

How about something like this...

Mike...

 

[danlott]

Why not have the back hinge up and be your counter top. If your taillights are on the back you could make the back/counter top a little bit narrower and the taillights could be permenant and not swing. This should be fairly easy to do with the drawing that you have. If designed properly you could be able to access the lower part of your galley without opening the top part if desired.

Dan

 

[tinksdad]

I think I saw it addressed in another thread; but my concern with a 5 foot wide door would be sagging. Have you considered splitting it and going with two doors for a U-shaped kitchen?

It's cold and raining here today and I don't want to jeopardize my health before next weekends major teardrop gathering and party in the south central, so I opted to mess around on the computer. I hope you don't mind; but I took your sketch and tried a little 3-D magic on it. Left one wall off and drew it with both a 5 foot swing door and a 30" swing door for comparison. (The lady in the pics is roughly 5' 3" tall.) I also didn't add the trailer frame or a lot of your cabinet details.

 

[Alfred-TNT]

Welcome to the forum from the beautiful mountains of Western NC!

AL in Asheville

 

[MoparCzy]

I am not worried about sag, When the door is open, I will have the outer end supported on adjustable length legs at both the front and back of that end. And thanks for the 3-D view, very nice.

I think I saw it addressed in another thread; but my concern with a 5 foot wide door would be sagging. Have you considered splitting it and going with two doors for a U-shaped kitchen?

It's cold and raining here today and I don't want to jeopardize my health before next weekends major teardrop gathering and party in the south central, so I opted to mess around on the computer. I hope you don't mind; but I took your sketch and tried a little 3-D magic on it. Left one wall off and drew it with both a 5 foot swing door and a 30" swing door for comparison. (The lady in the pics is roughly 5' 3" tall.) I also didn't add the trailer frame or a lot of your cabinet details.

 

[John T. Hodgen]

Hey,
On the "Costta Lotta", 4x8, I split 2-2' doors with swing up tables supported by a ladder type support which is removable. There maybe a pic in my album. The hatch part extends about an 1-1/2 over the doors to keep rain out.
Til later by the fire--John T. & Linda

 

[madjack]

...look for pics by "bob henry" and "Dhazard"...they have done extremely similar designs with much success.....
madjack

 

[bobhenry-TNT]

Dhazards is a lot prettier than mine but ours has seen alot of use. We were out 13 times this season which included 4 gatherings. I love the fact that our hatch makes a wonderful roof over the galley by being full length ( something to think about) . Ol' whats her name won't let me drag "Barn to be wild" any more she wants her kitchen!!!

 

[ssj3Jarrod]

Bobhenry, That is the most beautiful galley I have seen. Is that a transparent hatch? What material is it? I love that, Im going to try to do something along those lines... But mines gonna be 6.5ft wide.

 

[Mightydog]

This has nothing to do with the bottom cabs swinging out. It's another idea to consider...

We have the same amount of space under the counter, it just doesn't swing out. For extra counter space, and a place to put the camp stove, we use the extension on the right side. It attaches to the counter and has an adjustable leg.

This set-up gives us room for two full-sized people to work with a minimum of butt-bumping. It's also reasonable easy to close down at night to keep critters out.

I also think that with less moving parts and weight on hinges, you'll have less trouble in the future.

To answer your question about rubber seals, Curtis Trailers has a great selection of bulk seals that you can buy by the foot. They're great to work with and the east side location isn't that far from you at 10177 SE Powell Blvd.

 

[bobhenry-TNT]

Bobhenry, That is the most beautiful galley I have seen. Is that a transparent hatch? What material is it? I love that, Im going to try to do something along those lines... But mines gonna be 6.5ft wide.

Just like the roof " Bronze tint Lexan "