Another Strut Question

[kevin13]

Hey guys,
im currently using the spring style hatch support but wanting to switch to gas struts because my lid comes in at a whopping 96lbs.



I tried using the calculator but it recommends 30" struts but I only have 24" of space before I would hit my existing counter.

Can someone help with the calculation using a 24" hinge?

My Hatch is 50" deep in a straight line.
96lbs at the middle point.

Any help would break greatly appreciated and I know there are a ton of strut posts so sorry in advanced on that front.

[green1]

30lbs sounds way too light.

The calculators over complicate things. take a bathroom scale, put it on your countertop, and place a stick on it holding up the hatch at the same distance from the hinge that you'd attach the strut. Take the result and divide by 2 (because you'll have 1 strut on each side) and go to the store and pick the next size above what you just measured.

I did the above and ended up with 85lb struts for my tear and they're perfect.

BTW: I love the countertops you have. That edge really makes them "pop"!

EDIT: I misread inches as pounds. my bad. You can honestly use any length you want or that fit. measure something roughly vertical from the attachment point you want on your hatch to the side of your trailer fairly directly below it. Measure the correct force using the method I mention above and it all should work out. As I said, the calculators over complicate it. They are useful if you don't have the real thing to work on and are doing it all on paper. but once you have an actual hatch, you're better to measure than to calculate.

[tony.latham]

You can probably substitute 20” struts.

Make sure the attachment points are well engineered because you’ll have a lot of force when the struts are compressed.

Tony

[green1]

Make sure the attachment points are well engineered because you’ll have a lot of force when the struts are compressed.

Excellent advice! the force is a lot more than you'd think, and the screws that came with my struts were useless in wood. I through-bolted them top and bottom in the end to be sure it would support the forces involved.

[tony.latham]

The top is bolted to T-nuts.

Tony

[MickinOz]

Even though my lid weighs a lot less than 96 lbs, and I had about 24 inches of room too, I still couldn't bring myself to put so much stress on my hurricane hinge.
Given my light weight hatch, I went with manual struts.

http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=71977&start=163

[kevin13]

The calculators over complicate things. take a bathroom scale, put it on your countertop, and place a stick on it holding up the hatch at the same distance from the hinge that you'd attach the strut. Take the result and divide by 2 (because you'll have 1 strut on each side) and go to the store and pick the next size above what you just measured.

I did the above and ended up with 85lb struts for my tear and they're perfect.

BTW: I love the countertops you have. That edge really makes them "pop"!
.

Ill try out the method you suggested of weighing the hatch

Thanks, for the reply and compliment. I never really got around to finishing my build thread but the outside of my trailer also has copper accents.

[green1]

Not to derail the thread too much, but I love the look you went for. How do you keep the copper looking copper like? I know copper is one of those metals that tends to tarnish very quickly/easily.

I'm in the process of planning out a build in my mind, Always great to see some examples that make me go "wow!"

[kevin13]

The “copper” is just painted aluminum. I first used spray paint but found the hammered copper in a can is more gel like and thicker which is much better. They have other metal like finishes also like gold.

[RJ Howell]

Also not to derail the thread... Who you trying to keep alive in the tongue box?

[kevin13]

Lol my ex girlfriend. There’s a “hacked” ac unit in there

[RJ Howell]

Lol my ex girlfriend. There’s a “hacked” ac unit in there

Had thoughts you might have done a mini-split in there.

[kevin13]

thought about it but mini splits are too large considering they have an outside unit and inside unit. and we all know the cabin space is valuable.