"TrailTop" modular trailer building components

[jscherb]

Now that I've got the hatch installed, I can show you what I've designed for sealing the hatch opening from the elements. There are two separate weatherstrips - on the outside edge of the hatch is an EDPM rubber strip, it's 3/4" wide by 3/16" thick. This attaches to the inside of the hatch. Then a little bit inboard of that, there's a D-profile hollow weatherstrip.



Here's a closeup, the D-profile weatherstrip sits right at the inner edge of the jamb flange, and on the TrailTop curved pieces the flange has an additional recess. This forms a drip channel so that any water that might get past the outer weatherstrip will be channeled away. Although I've done it slightly differently, the drip channel idea borrows from automotive hatchback standard practice; it should work just as well the seal on a hatchback.

[Hardryder56]

Jeff,
Very nice work there.
Tom

[jscherb]

Jeff,
Very nice work there.
Tom

Tom,
Thank you. I've tried to design commercial-quality features like drip channels into the TrailTop system to make it easy for a DIY home builder to get professional results with his project. I'm still evaluating the prototype parts to decide if there are other details or features that need to be added. Is there anything else people have thought if that I should add?
Jeff

[jscherb]

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to support the hatch in the open position with gas struts or a more simple prop rod of some sort. For now in the workshop I'm using a stick:



Since this is a proof-of-concept build, I'm thinking I should do gas struts to prove how they would work with the TrailTop parts, but I'd welcome any input you guys have on hatch supports.

[Hardryder56]

Jeff,
Would it be possible to incorporate mounting tabs for the gas struts on the hatch pieces or at least location indicators. I am thinking about the target market of someone who wants to build but might not have the skill/desire to figure out all the minor but important details. If nothing else then a measurement from the top or a paper (?) template.

Wish we were closer as I would offer my truck for use as a "real world" test bed for a pickup mounted camper
Tom

[jscherb]

Jeff,
Would it be possible to incorporate mounting tabs for the gas struts on the hatch pieces or at least location indicators. I am thinking about the target market of someone who wants to build but might not have the skill/desire to figure out all the minor but important details. If nothing else then a measurement from the top or a paper (?) template.

Tom,
Since the TrailTop hatch ribs are designed to be cut to length for the particular application, predefined mounting points probably don't make sense, but the mounting is very easy. I would think a simple set of instructions that gives strut lengths, strengths and some guidance on mounting locations would be all that someone would need. Here's a quick drawing showing how they would mount:

Wish we were closer as I would offer my truck for use as a "real world" test bed for a pickup mounted camper
Tom

That would be a fun project.

[mallymal]

I've just re-read this amazing thread from top to bottom again.

My heart sank when I saw that you weren't going to produce this!

You've gone to so much trouble making high quality moulds and so on, let's hope some fibreglass moulding company picks up the ball and runs with it.

If there was a prize for the longest lurker on this great forum, I would win gold! So I guess I can wait a little longer before building, and wait till these parts are available

Keep up the great work

[jscherb]

I've just re-read this amazing thread from top to bottom again.

My heart sank when I saw that you weren't going to produce this!

You've gone to so much trouble making high quality moulds and so on, let's hope some fibreglass moulding company picks up the ball and runs with it.

If there was a prize for the longest lurker on this great forum, I would win gold! So I guess I can wait a little longer before building, and wait till these parts are available

Keep up the great work

It is true that I will not be producing any TrailTop parts for sale. I do this only as a hobby and have no plans to get into business doing this.

That doesn't mean the parts won't be available though, if a company decides these are worth turning into a commercial product then like a bunch of my other fiberglass designs, they could become available.

But before that can happen I've got to finish my work on the proof-of-concept build and decide for myself if these are worthy of being a commercial product.

Thanks for your interest. And thanks for coming out of lurking mode and posting .

[Hardryder56]

Since the TrailTop hatch ribs are designed to be cut to length for the particular application, predefined mounting points probably don't make sense, but the mounting is very easy. I would think a simple set of instructions that gives strut lengths, strengths and some guidance on mounting locations would be all that someone would need. Here's a quick drawing showing how they would mount:



That would work just fine. I forgot to take into consideration the "cut to length" part of the design.
Tom

[jscherb]

Yesterday I went to my local U-Pull junkyard to shop for some gas struts for the hatch. My SWAG engineering suggested I would find appropriate struts on a full-size SUV with a separate tailgate and lift glass in the back. I figured a lift glass with a metal frame would probably weigh just about as much as the hatch and have about as much leverage. I grabbed a pair of struts from a '95 Chevy Tahoe and they seem just about right. Here they are clamped in place as a test:



Initial tests show that these have just about the right force.

[jscherb]

I installed the struts this morning.



The force of the struts stresses things a bit in the current stage of the build - for example, I've only got three screws on each side of the hinge, the force flexes the hinge a bit. When everything is buttoned up in the final assembly, these struts will be perfect.

[jscherb]

Tom,
Since you were wondering about figuring out the details of strut installation, here's how I do it.

1. You want struts that will have a bit more force than the load they need to support. The load can be found with a bathroom scale and a stick. Pick a place where you think you'd like to attach the struts, put a bathroom scale on the floor of the trailer, and a stick between that point and the scale. The scale will tell you how much downward force the hatch is exerting at that point. The magenta line in the drawing below shows a weigh point that could be used for this hatch. Let's say the scale reads 40 lbs., two 25-lbs. force struts should do the job nicely, and 30-lb. struts would give a little more margin to protect from winds moving the hatch. (The stick in this photo isn't being used for weight measurement, it's holding up the hatch - this is just an edit of a photo I already had on hand).

2. Measure the vertical length from the attachment point you'd like to use on the hatch to the attachment point you'd like to use on the camper shell. Checking a website like McMaster-Carr, look for a strut that has that extended length and the force you came up with in step 1.

3. Check the compressed length of the chosen strut, the mount point for it will be a maximum of the difference between the extended and compressed lengths away from the hinge point. You don't want the strut bottoming out when the hatch is closed, so it's a good idea to make this distance just a bit shorter than the difference.



Those steps should get you appropriate struts for your application.

[Hardryder56]

Jeff,
Thank you very much for the tutorial on the struts, that made it very clear. It is those kind of things that I really like about this site and several others that I am on, people with the knowledge, skills and ability to both make/do thing and then to explain it in simple easy to understand terms.
Thanks again.
Tom

[jscherb]

About two weeks ago on my drive back from Florida I spotted this:



Seemed like a good project for TrailTop parts, so I drew a concept using just the TrailTop parts I've already molded - 36" radius curves, 12" radius curves and 8' straight sections. The concept is basically the same size as the T@DA trailer, so any of the T@DA interior arrangements could be built in it.



Comparing it for size to the TrailTop proof-of-concept prototype:

[Hardryder56]

Jeff,
Somebody had better pick up the manufacturing of your parts, there are a whole bunch of very sweet designs possible with them. I really like that T&DA clone.
Tom