Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Has anyone made a Camp-inn sytle hatch support. I saw on their site that they don't use gas shocks. i would like to copy their hatch support and wondered if anyone has already done it and can tell me how to implement it.

thanks,

Saw that last nite too. Also interested.

That is their own design. I have not seen anyone try to copy it.

Are we talking about this........????

Yep - that is a great photo of it too! I would like to re-create this in my build. Any chance you have measurements?

It's gonna be specific to the length and style of YOUR hatch so when you get the lid on do some broom stick engineering to get it right for your build.

Yep, you are right - thanks for the photo.

Check out John's great Scenic II build:

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=29603

Pg 5 deals with his version of that style of hatch support.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

Not sure that that is the same. The Camp-Inn looks like it is one solid stick that the lower end rides in a track; open the hatch and the bottom end follows the track until the hatch is all the way up. Gravity keeps the prop at the bottom of the groove, and the angle of incident is what keeps the prop from lifting up in the slot with wind loading. Lift the hatch a tad, push up on the prop to get it started back up in the track and the action of the hatch closing forces the bottom of the prop up into the guide slot.

At least that's what I think I'm seeing.

The one Norm linked to is a multiple piece extending prop rod that telescopes into a locked position with fixed ends.

That Camp-Inn set up is pretty slick, elegant even. With some careful sketching, perhaps a scale model (or two) of the geometry, you could get it close enough to bring it to full scale for some final fine tuning and make that work. Might want to use a good strong piece of select wood for the prop, and probably steam bend it to get the right shape w/o creating weak spots. It will be under a considerable load with leverage and that kink shape to it.

I like it.

That is a great description of it. One of the challenges is see is integrating it into the upper cabinets. Camp-inn leaves a big open space but I would like cabinet space above. I am thinking I can leave a space between cabinets and integrate the mechanism into the cabinet frame. Definitely will be doing some modeling to get it right.

This one was on Ron & Pam's stunning woody homebuilt at Walk the Winds a week ago. Might give you a couple of ideas for reference.

Good Luck, and ...

CHEERS!

That's a nice one! thanks!

Imitation is the highest form of flattery!

Here is mine!

And my interpretation!

I wanted a wooden prop rather than gas struts and the hatch is not so heavy that I need assistance to lift it. I found that a single prop worked ok but puts a twisting force on the sliding section so that it did not move freely in the slot. The solution was to make the support symmetrical by having tandem props. The two parts are separated by an aluminium spacer tube, which forms the running surface, through which the bolt goes. The shape of the track is not critical so I simply followed the form of the TD sides.

I think it is important that the slot continues beyond the highest point of hatch opening and the allows the hatch to drop a little so that the weight needs to be lifted while pushing the prop forward to release.