Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

After buying a hurricane hinge because that should be leak proof, it leaks. Stupid me spends about $60 total, has to drill holes in the hinge and then stress out installing the flimsy thing. I feel like I should have bought a cheap piano hinge and covered it with rubber, my first thought. After I read this forum it seemed the better solution would be a hurricane hinge. The dew went right through the hinge as soon as I opened the hatc this morning. The hinge gets water in the joint between the two parts and capillary action pulls the water through. As it is now this hinge is worthless.

Thank you for any solution.

Tom in Columbus

I think there is a thread somewhere on here that shows how to fit a piece of weatherstrip so that when the hatch is open it seals between the edges of the lips on the extrusions. I think, IIRC, the condition was more of an issue for hatches that opened to larger angles, shorter hatches on steeper rear roof slopes, but that could just be an artifact of the echos in my head.

I'm still deciding on a hinge.
This makes me wonder if the modern plastic hinges are a better option.

Can you take a photo or two of your hinge? Are you sure it's not reversed? Did you overlap it about 3/8" on both sides?



I glue a little bit of rubber seal on the outside, under the upper flange to catch any run off from the top of the hinge. It acts like a drip edge. But other than that, I don't get water through my hinge.

Tony

Tomterrific wrote:After buying a hurricane hinge because that should be leak proof, it leaks. Stupid me spends about $60 total, has to drill holes in the hinge and then stress out installing the flimsy thing. I feel like I should have bought a cheap piano hinge and covered it with rubber, my first thought. After I read this forum it seemed the better solution would be a hurricane hinge. The dew went right through the hinge as soon as I opened the hatc this morning. The hinge gets water in the joint between the two parts and capillary action pulls the water through. As it is now this hinge is worthless.

Thank you for any solution.

Tom in Columbus

Tom:

Sorry about the, "are you sure it's not reversed?" question. After Danny posted, I re-read your description of the problem. Dew? Are you kidding me? I'm sitting here in 90 degrees and 12% humidity. Dryer than a popcorn fart. The hills around here are about ready to burst into fire and smoke. I don't think my brain can comprehend dew right now.

Please excuse.

Tony

For mine I put an Aluminum L bar underneath the top part of the hinge with the top canter levering over the top to prevent direct streams of water from hitting the hinge.. With silicone between the roof aluminum and the top part of the hinge. Looks great and adds more protection. I can provide an image if you want to see.

Yes, can you please add a picture. That would be great !

wiseguydirk wrote:For mine I put an Aluminum L bar underneath the top part of the hinge with the top canter levering over the top to prevent direct streams of water from hitting the hinge.. With silicone between the roof aluminum and the top part of the hinge. Looks great and adds more protection. I can provide an image if you want to see.

It's just 1x1 L channel. This was the best option I had to fur out the top of the hinge 1/4 of an inch to make the pieces fit properly as well this was mor of a necessity than just weather proofing..

Makes me real glad I just used three regular old Stanley strap hinges and some rubber covers.

Not a drip in 7 years !

My Hurricane Hinge leaks too. I live in a windy place and when the rain is being driven directly on the rear of the trailer it comes right through the middle of the hinge. However mine was closed and sitting behind my garage when all this was happening. Took me a while to figure out what was happening because it didn't leak during every rain storm. If I spray a garden hose on the closed galley, water will blast right through the hinge. To look at the closed hinge you'd think this wasn't possible, but it happens. Oddly enough driving down the road in a driving rainstorm I typically wouldn't get a drop of water inside my galley. Just let the TD sit behind the garage all closed up and it would get wet in certain rain storms. My solution was Gorilla tape which is a glorified duct tape which I put lengthwise the entire length of the hinge. Water typically doesn't get through the tape. Doesn't look the best but it works without me having to mess anymore with the hinge. Since my TD is now stored in a garage, the water problem is pretty much a non issue. My hinge is the older style without the little wing on the opening part. I was kicking around buying one of these like you're showing in your picture, but since the newer hinge also has issues, I think I'll just stick to the tape. After all I built this thing to hunt out of not to have every body admiring my great workmanship which to be perfectly honest isn't all that good. But I am happy with the trailer and that's all that counts.

Art

I didn''t see this, so apologize if already addressed. Did you extend it 1/2" or so beyond the trailer? We have never had a bit of trouble with ours, never leaked even in the torrential down pores in 5 years.

I expected to be questioned about my install so it is okay.
Hinge is very sealed with Mortite under the hinge and on each screw.
Hinge extends over edge and is caulked under.
The hinge is on a flat, not angled surface. Not a typical teardrop so I see more problems with water.
I think the leak is due to capillary action drawing water through the small clearance of the two hinge parts.

This sucks, it's raining now.
Tom

In the last picture with the blue tarp on top, which is the upper side of the hinge in your application, the left or the right? In that picture It looks to me like the uphill side of the hinge (what stays attached to the trailer when the lid is down in closed position, ought to be on the right.

Art

The photo does look backwards but the hinge is installed properly. The hinge is on a flat surface parallel to the ground. The open side is to the rear, closed side front.

I believe my best, possibly only alternative is a strip of rubber over the hinge, something I falsely believed the hurricane hinge would eliminate. I have the square back hatch cantilevered one foot. When the hatch is lifted it makes a roof one foot above the trailer. I can stand under this easily. With curtains/walls, this makes a nice area to change clothes. The back of the trailer is entirely open with a raised hatch so a motorcycle will fit inside.

Some crazy or clever ideas, you be the judge.

Heavy oil dribbled into the open side when the hatch is up. May eventually run out and fail. Horrible mess.

Hot wax melted into hinge. This does seem like it could work as the wax would fill the vacant area inside the hinge. Would the wax melt in the hot sun?

A grease nipple on one or both sides of the hinge. Once filled with grease water can't get through. Easy to wipe excess after filling. Easy to refill.

A rain fly! Merely a single sheet of cloth running from the open hatch over the trailer. A widthwise pocket sewn in the fly would fit over the bottom of the hatch, then pull the fly over to the front and tie it to the tongue. I like this! Not entirely my idea but very nice. I see a simple rain fly in my future.

Tom