Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm in the planning stages of my kuffel creek cubby build and had a question about the design of the back hatch design. The kuffel creek plans call for two curved gussets on either side and long spars connecting them.



The benroy plans from this site call for 6 curved gussets with short spars in between.



For those who are experienced builders which would you say is a superior design and what is your reason.

I used the kuffel creek plans for the cubby also but of course I deviated from it.
On cardboard I just traced the profile of the hatch and instead of using plywood, I used a 2 x 10 pine board that cost $14.00 and made my gussets out of it. 2 would've been enough but I over did it and used 4. The hatch is heavy but it's also very solid.








If you wanted to go that route just trace your hatch profile and if a 2 x 10 board isn't wide enough, you could try a 2 x 12.

For 30 years, I've been using the two curved ribs with 4 or 5 cross-beams method ... when fully boxed (sheathing on the inside and the outside), the galley lid is quite strong, stable, and fairly light weight. The only reason I can think of to have more than two ribs is if the trailer is much more than 5' wide (our 7' wide TugDrop will have 4 ribs).

Other's experiences will definitely vary, but, one of the "complaints" I hear most from first-time builders is that they over built it and next time they will build lighter.

Good Luck, and as always ...

CHEERS!

I asked this a few week back and was told that 4 vertical ribs with cross 'noggins' and top and bottom 2x1's is preffered.

It was easy enough to build (cut 4 curves out of plywood) Its fitted and study enough.

I used two vertical curved ribs on my first build (4' wide), and four on my second build (5' wide).

Aside from width, I think your decision also may depend on what you're going to use to skin the hatch. I used 5mm ply (about 3/16") because it was cheaper and more readily available than 1/8" ply. It also resists bending around curves a lot more, which can result in the dreaded "spring-back", where the skin actually pulls on your curved spars and makes them want to straighten out. The 1/8" ply is super flexible and conforms to the curves a lot easier, meaning 2 curved hatch ribs will be plenty sufficient.