Galley hatch design and other questions

Anything to do with mechanical, construction etc

Galley hatch design and other questions

Postby mariellec » Wed Nov 23, 2022 4:47 pm

Hello all - I am planning to build a 5x8 teardrop on a Stirling 5x8 Galvalume trailer. I have some specific questions I have not seen addressed here - I hope I am not repeating but I have seriously looked. I have also watched dozens of videos, read Tony's book and one other, and watched most of Oregon Batman's. Lots of beautiful builds, but I am wondering about how various design options hold up over time and terrain. These questions persist:

1. If my trailer does not have tabs (like Oregon Batman) for attaching the floor, do most people drill through the frame from the inside of the finished floor to attach the cabin to the frame? What happens if, somewhere down the line, you need to do repairs to the trailer/axle?

2. Oregon Batman's cabin overhangs the frame by an inch (=/-). So, he could run some L-trim and butyl tape along the bottom seam to keep water from coming up the walls/floor seam. Other builds seem to install the side wall skin over the frame (or not) - but I don't see anything done to protect the bottom edge of the cabin walls from water or road dust. When the cabin is built flush with the frame, there is no room to add edge trim. What do you do to protect the lower edge of the wall/skin?

3. Tony Latham and others build the hatch by cutting the side 'ribs' off the hatch off of the cabin side and using them for a pattern. Then the seal between hatch and cabin is created by the way that the layers on the cabin sides and hatch interlock, and a strip of vinyl inside the groove. But i see other trailers where the sides are not cut away and the seal is created by aluminum/vinyl trim on the edge of the cabinet wall and an aluminum T trim on the hatch. Wondering which option is more durable/waterproof/dustproof.

Appreciate any thoughts (esp. those based on trying it out for a while!)
mariellec
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2022 12:58 pm

Re: Galley hatch design and other questions

Postby tony.latham » Wed Nov 23, 2022 10:02 pm

Wondering which option is more durable/waterproof/dustproof.


Well...

Image

You can't get more waterproof or dustproof with a hatch that IS dustproof/waterproof. That's like asking which hatch is more waterproof, Toyota's or Honda's.

But I'm biased. :thinking:

Tony

p.s. Perhaps hatches built differently are waterproof/dustproof too... My first teardrop was a commercially built Hunter Silver Shadow. The company Little Guy bought out. That hatch wasn't dustproof.
User avatar
tony.latham
Gold Donating Member
 
Posts: 6880
Images: 17
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 4:03 pm
Location: Middle of Idaho on the edge of nowhere

Re: Galley hatch design and other questions

Postby MickinOz » Fri Nov 25, 2022 5:38 pm

I do it like this.
Since I built with just single pieces of plywood for the side walls, not composite skin on frame like Tony, the curve at the back, where the galley opening is, needed some framing to prevent warping. I built that framing with a groove in it to accept a D seal.
Hatch seal.JPG
Hatch seal.JPG (35.22 KiB) Viewed 260 times


This link goes to a photo in my second build journal.
download/file.php?id=30845
MickinOz
1000 Club
1000 Club
 
Posts: 1254
Images: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2019 3:54 pm
Location: Somewhere, in 379,725 square miles of South Australia
Top


Return to Teardrop Construction Tips & Techniques

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests