Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

What size of continuous hinge do you guys use for doors? I don't know whether to buy the 1.5 inch (measured unfolded flat) off the shelf from Lowes or order something different from a place like www.mcmaster.com. Wanna get something kinda corrosion resistant too.

Hi Scooter,

I used an off the rack stainless hinge from Lowes. Made the hinge side of my doors 30" long since that's a standard length for those paino hinges. I put an 1/8" spacer under it on the body side to space the door out enough for the seal. There's a pic of it on this web page of my site:

http://www.uncledennyscorner.com/teardrop/slides/door_spacer.html

Denny

I just used a couple of door hinges. What's the advantage to using a piano hinge?

Good question shil, I'd like to hear the prevailing wisdom on door hinges vs. piano hinges too.

I used a stainless steel piano hinge on the first one... and a screen door hinge on the second one...

Any hinge will work as long as it does the job it was intended
doesn't fly off when you are driving down the road
doesn't adversely affecting the sealing
and you like the way it looks!!!

I don't see any reason why a regular door hinge wouldn't work as long as you put adequate screws in it.

I guess one advantage of a piano hinge is that it distributes the stress along the entire edge rather than just 2 or 3 points.

I used the piano hinges on my doors, becuase I figured since they distribute the load over a wide area. They would prevent the doors from sagging and warping since they are used alot

I should have added to my above post that the piano hinge along with fenders and drip rail are screwed into the sides and all help to keep the aluminum skin tight against the plywood sides. Same goes for the door side of the hinge plus the fact that they are very inexpensive.

Denny

Good point it does the same with my skin as well

If you will look here..

http://home.alltel.net/engled/td/april1718.html

You can see that I put my hinge in the inside of the door, it really cleaned up the looks of the door.

I used stainless, the widest I could get, I think 2". each hinge plate is only 1/2 that and the screw holes are in the middle, or 1/2" from the edge.

The hinge is very easy to mount and thin.. and it cost $26 for enough for 2 doors. Lots of support, and it fit right into the saw cut with no fooling around with mortising, spacing, etc. It also provides some leak protection in driving rain.

Yes, you could do it cheaper. If I build another tear, I will use stainless again.

Talk about FAST! Ordered my hinges online from http://www.mcmaster.com yesterday and they arrived today, less than 24 hrs. That's with regular shipping. They're in Atlanta and I'm only 250 miles away but still, that's really quick.

Got 2" stainless steel piano hinge, part number 1582A16. Figure SS won't corrode too fast in the elements.

Piano hinges stainless steel only. Used cheaper and they rust which is ugly. Only use stainless screws where exposed to the elements and not painted. Learned the hard way.