Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Just wondering how many of you use poles
If you use poles, how do you use them? Have you devised a method to keep the hatch from blowing up in the wind while supported by poles

How many use struts

How many have come up with other creative ideas (What are they )

Thanks for your input!!

Becky,
Ours came with broomstick type poles that pinned at the top and had a velcro strap at the bottom securing it to the inside of the wall.






They worked great but they would be in the way of the lower cabinet doors I was planning to make at the time so I designed something different.
Also, just in case you didn't notice, there is a sticky on hatch supports high on the main page.

I really like what you designed Bill. Thanks for the great pictures.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRrsCtvyTUPf84opp1sdAbyNmNtQhKr0537YxNW6A70a-0hT_Ec8A
What I really wanted to do was do something like a bimi mounting bracket but I had a deadline to get it ready for the first trip and went with something I knew I could get and install the night before the campout. I have them mounted on outside of the body. I am having a hard time drilling, screwing or attaching anything to the cherry.
What I did was took some strut supports. It has a ball on it that is attached to the mounting plate by a tapered cone. I took some 3/4 emt conduit and cut at 5 feet. Drilled a hoke at each end just big enough to put the ball in and hekd in place by the tapered. cone. I need to come up with some way of holding it against the mounting plate so it doesn't find its way out. So far its working ok.

Update: Ok found a way to hold them in case of wind. just took a couple of mini bungee cords and wrapped around twice and used d-rings to tie it all together. i like the look and it functions well. I also moved teh brackets to inside and found a nice spot to attach them really happy with them.

Did mine very similar to BillZ 'cept mine are hinged at the counter top & swing up to the latch. Didn't want to try to devise a holding mechanism on the hatch interior to keep 'em from flopping around while underway. I formed the upper receptacles from heavy (1/8") aluminum plate & bought a couple of tractor 'lynch pins' as 'keepers' so wind won't move the hatch while in up position. Didn't want the pins 'tethered' to the posts since they could also move a lot while underway & damage the counter top, so I drilled a couple of correct size holes at an angle in the upper counter top for pin storage while underway. Been using these since 2006 & they work great. Only problem is my tiny wife has problem lifting the hatch high enough to engage the props so that's my job. Up 'til now that ain't been a problem as I've always been available & she don't camp alone .

Hi Becky

This is how I did mine. I got the basic idea from Harvey (Nobody).











It works really good and is very stout. Its easy to get the pins in and out too.
I may try to skin the inside of my hatch but I'll have to leave some room for the hatch props to
seat properly. I'll have to think on that alittle.

Harvey & Larry, I like this very much.

I am so glad I asked this question. Lots of good ideas to choose from.

LDK wrote:Hi Becky

This is how I did mine. I got the basic idea from Harvey (Nobody).











It works really good and is very stout. Its easy to get the pins in and out too.
I may try to skin the inside of my hatch but I'll have to leave some room for the hatch props to
seat properly. I'll have to think on that alittle.

Larry, that's exactly the reason I devised the upper latchs the way I did. I used mine for a couple of years with the inside of the hatch 'bare' & had near the same pin arrangement you have. Had to figure something different when I 'lined' the hatch so I came up with the aluminum 'receptacles'. I'm sure there are others that would work as well, just I had the materials on hand & easy to work with.

Here's an idea I had for the Simple's (square) hatch. Two 1x2s fall by their own weight into two plywood sockets screwed to the sidewall (where they can have a pin added for safety). To lower, lift the hatch a little and pull on the dowel to keep the props out of the sockets until they are on the way down.



This would work equally well on a curved teardrop hatch, thought here needs to be space for the props to pass over/behind the worktop.

An 06 thread.......

An oldie but a goodie.....

Mine are not exactly homemade but creatively repurposed.





Camp pal utility stands hold condiments ,towels, pans , paper towel , trash bag ,lantern and many other utility uses.

Wow, some great ideas here! Here's what I did...

I have lift struts, but they no longer keep the hatch up, they are more of a lift assist now. I use a plain old 2x4 to keep it open.

I used a scrap piece of metal conduit and some other scrap materials to make a very simple support at almost no cost. The nice thing about these supports is that they just fall into place when you open the hatch and they fall away when you close it. Check the pics on my journal at this link:

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=49333&start=45


Follow the subsequent posts to see the followup suggestion on how to secure it from the wind.

I used conduit with foam pipe insulation along with folding door stops. I cut the end off the door stops and drilled holes in them. The "stubs from the door stops fit inside the conduit. On the bottom the conduit is bolted to the stub and on the top I use a locking pin. Simple setup, but its solid as can be and a high wind can't lift the hatch. Its also pretty inexpensive.

Good Luck,

Mike

Very creative Mike. I like that a lot!! Thanks for sharing it and for the detailed pictures.