Eliminate the Galley Hinge!!!!

[fornesto]

I had a thought today while at the hardware store. What if I used 3/4" galvanized pipe instead of a galley hinge? I could mount the 54" long pipe horizontally into flanges mounted on the side walls and drill through a super-reinforced hatch with bushings or bearings mounted every 16" or so on struts. Placing the 3/4" pipe as close to the top of the hatch would be essential so that the tail (the part that goes down when the hatch goes up)is as small as possible. A counterbalance system could even be derived to help with the lift. As far as sealing the top. I'd just overlap any gap with 1/8" plywood so that the tail swings up and makes positive contact. Trunk latches would also help swing it upward.

If the weakness of some tears is the hinge, its potential for water intrusion and the great stress put on a concentrated area, why wouldn't this idea work?

Drawing to come.

[Guest]

I think that when you start playing with your drawing, you will find the same thing that I did, when I first started messing around with the concealed hinge.
It took me a while to get the hoop and the pivot point in the propper location so the top edge of the hatch didn't hit the roof. (If I wanted the hatch to open far enough to be practical)
From what you described in words, I just can't see it working in my mind, without having the top edge of the hatch clash with the roof or being an easy way to seal it.
I'm very curiuos to see what you come up with in your drawing, because my drawing just about made my brain short circuit for some reason. (I'm a bit under the weather today)
The only way that I can picture a setup like that working, is have the roof overlap the hatch and put the pivot point out beyond the rear edge of the roof. The hatch side profile would need to either be a smaller elllipse or staggared under the roof ellipse.
That would be a piece of cake to seal with just a compression bulb in between the roof and the hatch.

[fornesto]

[shil]

If I’m thinking what you’re thinking, you’ll have a great big gap when the hatch is open. You’ll funnel a lot of water onto breakfast when cooking in the rain.

But maybe I just don’t get it…

[Guest]

Holey Moley!
That's a big drawing!
It looks like the top of the hatch will hit the edge of the roof when you try to open it.
I'll draw up a diagram of how I pictured a solution to your setup in my mind.

[fornesto]

The orange part of the drawing is where the "big gap" would occur. But, if you extended the roof (just the 1/8" plywood) about three inches to the aft, you could cover that area by creating an overhanging ledge.

If done correctly, the tail (the orange area) of the hatch would rise as you close the hatch until it made contact with the ledge (with weatherstip underneath) and make positive contact.

BTW: Who cooks in the rain?



In this drawing, the red is the 3/4" pipe. The brown is a neoprene or canvas sleave that seals the gap when the hatch is closed. The black is the rear main spar of the cabin. The yellow is when the hatch is in the up position. The canvas or neoprene migh be able to fit into the gap. In place of the canvas or neoprene, a rigid ledge could extend over this area.

[Guest]

Here's how I saw it in my mind...

You could place a compression bulb in between the overlap to get a nice seal, but if the ouside of the trailer was wet, water would drip into the inside when you open it.
Maybe you could build a drip pan or gutter of some sort?

[fornesto]

How about bowed drip rail on the hatch "upside down", so when you lift it the water runs off the sides?

Dean, that's how I'm going to try to do it....I might need some Z-flashing for now, but that's easy stuff.

[Guest]

(Now I see a problem with that image that I just posted)
I don't see how you could get a seal on the sides of the hatch in front of the pivot point, especially that small space in btween the pivot point and the begining of the overlap.
(Like I say, This cold medicine has made my brain a bit foggy today)

[Guest]

Hey Fornesto,
If you look at how most car trunks are setup, they usually have a double seal. The outermost being a compression bulb on the trunk lid and the second one on a raised rib on the trunk opening. The area on the trunk opening in between both seals acts as a gutter system to keep water from dripping into the comartment when the trunk lid is open.
I think if you placed a drip area underneath the top edge and well enough below the hatch, so that it cleared the part of the hatch that undelaps the roof, then funneled that down like the cars trunk setup is, everything would work just fine and that small troubled area that I saw wouldn't be a problem, because whatever amount of wate that got in while the hatch is closed would just drain down in the gutter area.

[SteveH]

Don't want to be labeled as the nay sayer, but I don't think it will work.

I just got thru making my hatch work last week and for me to stand comfortably under it (6' tall), it has to open a full 90 degrees as seen from the side.

To get that amount of angle in the hinge area, I believe it will leak in the closed condition.

[fornesto]

Who need you guys anyways! Stay away from my teardrop...I'll show you all! I don't want to play anymore!


"This will definitely require a lot of wasted money and time to get done correctly" - Fornesto '05

[madjack]

...the good thing about building your own is the ability to doit your way, having said that, Grant's hurricane hinge is an elegant and almost foolproof method of opening/closing your hatch and much more simple to engineer...my 2cents worth
madjack

[Guest]

MadJack,
I'm with ya on the hurricane hinge, but I'm using copper on my roof and I can't find that hinge in the right color to match the copper. I could get it anodized black though, because my window frames and sunroof frames will be black.
But anywho... I'm playing with a concealed hinge similar to a car trunk hinge for the time being. (I've got that info posted in anothet thread in this section)
I'm just trying to help Fornesto out here.

Steve,
I'm not seeing a problem with not being able to open the hatch far enough with the Fornesto's underlap setup. Look at the illistrations below. I did an extreme open point which would not be neccesary at all, but it did show me that you could place another compression bulb on the back side edge of the roof to get a seal while the hatch is open. The only trick would be figuring out how far you want the hatch to open, then extend the overlap of the roof to where the second bulb would get a nice seal.


(By my guestimation, you'd have to be about eight or nine feet tall to hit your head on the bottom edge of the hatch)

[DestinDave]

Dean... aluminum can be anodized in a variety of colors also. I've seen a dark shade of green which might be kinda nice if you're going to let the copper reach a natural (or man-made ) patina. Also, some metallic shades can be done including copper. Check out a DIY anodizing kit at
http://www.caswellplating.com and the copper shade they offer. I don't know much about power supplies, temperatures, etc. but maybe someone else here couold provide more info.
Dave