Gull wing doors?

[trailtroll]

Is there anyone out there who has done or knows if gull wings doors are a good/bad idea.

[GuitarPhotog]

Gull wing doors require substantial springs/counterweights to keep the door in the open position. Usually this results in a large and ungainly hinge/spring assembly protruding into the cabin space.

Conventional doors are easier to build and seal also.

<Chas>

[teddy]

ST1100 did one on his motorcycle trailer

[GuitarPhotog]

ST1100 did one on his motorcycle trailer

That's a truly unique trailer, but I don't believe he ever showed us how he keeps the door (he has only one) open.

There's a yellow jelly bean style trailer on here with gull wing doors. I can't find it because I don't know what it was called.

<Chas>

[grant whipp]

Sawyer Christianson put gull wing doors on his first teardrop, back in '08 or '09 I think ... I don't recall if he made a build journal or not. They worked well enough, I guess. They'd be easy enough to build, using a hurricane-type hinge on the top and either gas props or spring props to hold them up, just like they do on the rear lift-gates of campershells ... you could use conventional T-Molding and Door Seal, but I'd recommend a piece of Drip Moldingin front of the forward edge of the door, at least.

Good Luck, and as always ...

CHEERS!

[razorback]

Check out the Roswell build.
Larry

[trailtroll]

Check out the Roswell build.
Larry

Do you have a link to his build?

[warnmar10]

Check out the Roswell build.
Larry

Do you have a link to his build?

Maybe this one? http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=26742

https://www.google.com/search?q=Roswell ... 8&oe=utf-8

[angib]

Gull-wing doors seem like a good idea - but I'm not sure that would be true in practice.

I have this nice idea of the door acting as a canopy, but then if it opens high enough not to take your eye out when open, it will be pointing upwards when open and any rain will end up draining onto the hinge.

Also the standing height just outside the teardrop will be limited, unless the door opens nearly vertical (ie, lifts through nearly 180 degrees), so you will have to crouch to get into the trailer - no backing up to an open door and just sitting down, as you do with a conventional door.

True gull-wing doors - extending into the roof as well as down the side - would overcome these problems but would be a nightmare to make and seal.

[rowerwet]

not to mention interfering with any roof racks or cargo baskets on the roof.
I gave a lot of thought to gull wing doors, instead I made my side tents, and bring a beach umbrella for each door. Anything else required too much effort, and tended to intrude into the space around the door. lift struts work fine in a galley as they fit into the space over the counter top, inside the tear they would be a problem to mount out of the way.

[JuneBug]

It took a few minutes looking through the Hall of Fame, but I found it! The Teadroptimus Prime.

It has the gull-wing (lift up) doors and the cooler slides out on a drawer from the side (my favorite feature).
Gallery here.

[trailtroll]

Gone off the idea of gull wings, have bought two doors from pleasant Valley Tear-drop trailers.
Good service, seven days to New Zealand.

[Shadow Catcher]

We have been in a number of camp sites where there would have been difficulty opening a gull wing door on one side or the other with out creatively trimming trees and brush back. This was the case at CRA one year where one of our doors could not be opened fully and there was no room to put up the side tarp.