Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Build your hatch in place and skin it, then cut your hatch?


check out the build blog. He built his hatch and skinned it in place along with the back of his teardrop. Next he use a dremel with a side cutting bit to cut the hatch loose.

http://colestear.blogspot.com/2013_03_01_archive.html

That is what I did. the hatch and the doors.


It worked for me.

I built my framework in place as per Steve Frederick's Build Manual suggested and skinned it after it was off. Worked great. It was easy to locate the reinforcements for the supports while in the teardrop but unskinned. No springback.




I sweated over the hatch during the entire project, but it was rather simple, thanks to following Fredrick's Build Manual.

That fellow's hatch looks like it would survive a thermonuclear blast. Overkill in overkill mode.

Gus

I built the framework and skinned the outside of my hatch in place, but I did not have to cut it loose. The way I did this was to have a framed bulkhead - later to be insulated and skinned both sides - instead of a solid plywood bulkhead. I used screws and spacers to temporarily attach the framing. I also waited to cut the "notch" for hatch/sidewall weatherstripping until after the hatch was built. I "released" the hatch by crawling from the cabin through the bulkhead framing into the galley area and then removed the temporary screws. Here are a few pictures: