Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

We are at the point of installing our spars on our tear. My question is about the spar for the hatch hinge. In the Generic Benroy plans the spar for the hatch hinge is located at 58 7/8 inch from the front of the tear. Is the reason for the spar being located at this exact position so that the aluminum skin will reach to this point with a specific length? If not, is there a reason written in concrete for this location of the spar? It is hard to read the plans on our computer.

We are moving right along faster than we thought we would and are tickled to death. My next major hurdle will be the doors. I am using windows from an old conversion van and I haven't figured out just how to do them so the will seal good.

Your spar location is the most dependent on the size of your hatch. Determine the size of the hatch and you will know where to put the spar (doubled, I hope) to support your hatch hinge. If you are putting AL skin on, you can get it long enough to cover all the way to the spar location.

Thanks Kerry, I appreciate your advice, it sounds like a plan to me.

The hatch spar is usually located by the length of your skin material. If you have 10' material, that's where the hatch spar goes. That way you don't have a joint or seam in your roof. My spar is at 9'-6" from the front (as measured along the top of the sides). I figured I'd give myself a little wiggle room for installing the skin and I'd lent my board stretcher to the neighbor. Its not the best picture but here's where my hatch spar ended up on my Benroy. (Note: I changed the measurements after I went out and measured mine if you noticed they changed)

Bruce

Bruce, that is one big thing to keep in mind. I will check tomorrow to be sure that 10 foot aluminum will work to our hatch hinge location. Thanks for looking out for me.

Jim,

The hatch was designed to be covered by a 4' wide piece of plywood, and the roof was designed to only have 2 seams. Most importantly I wanted the spar to cover the galley cabinets nicely. But the location is not etched in stone. You've got the flexibility to move it where you want, depending on what you are packaging.

Mike...

Jim Marshall wrote:Bruce, that is one big thing to keep in mind. I will check tomorrow to be sure that 10 foot aluminum will work to our hatch hinge location. Thanks for looking out for me.

Jim,

You should be able to get AL in 12ft lengths. I got several that length.

Mike, this is basically the look we are trying for with our hatch.



We want to keep our hatch short for fear of not being able to seal it good enough.

Kerry, I have looked at several aluminum suppliers in our area and haven't been able to find one that carries the 12 foot sheets. If it is necessary I can order from someone that carries the 12 foot stuff. I want to let our side skin extend downward to cover our trailer but so far I haven't found any 5 X 8 sheets either.

Jim,

What's the overall length of your tear? If you start the hatch up a ways from the back of the tear floor, then you should have no problems putting the top within reach of a 10 foot length. A long hatch should not be any harder to seal than a short hatch. Check out the Generic Benroy Plans in the section on the hatch and see how to do it!! You can generally get 105 in wide AL that is sold by the linear ft from a semi trailer repair place. They use it on the roofs of semi trailers. Try a google search for "trailer repair" or something similar.

EDIT: did a quick search. try this place maybe
NATIONAL SEMI-TRAILER CORP
5571 OLD US HIGHWAY 78 (901) 795-0001
MEMPHIS, TN 38118

Jim,

Ah I see what you are doing. That calls for a 2D drawing of the side view...

Are you going to keep the Generic Benroy profile, or change to a different profile? How about the size? 4x8?

Mike...

Mike, here is a pic of our side profile. The front is like a Benroy but the back is more like the modernaire. This is with the inside camo finish already applied. Our tear will be a 5 X 8.



Kerry, we go to Memphis several times a year usually to visit family. I will check them out for the aluminum. The places we have checked out here are mostly sign places.

By the way, I have been to "Rich's List" several times and I can not open any of the links on his site. There is a ton of great information about locating different parts if we could get the links to open. Do ya'll have any ideas what I am doing wrong?

Jim,

What version of Adobe Reader do you have. You have to have your internet connection up when you try to click a link inside of a pdf file. If it you can't get them to link then just copy the link and paste it into the 'Address' line of Internet Explorer.

Kerry, we have 6.0 Adobe Reader and we were connected but we have dial up so that could have some bearing on it. We will try copying and pasting. Once a again thank you buddy.

Jim Marshall wrote:Mike, here is a pic of our side profile. The front is like a Benroy but the back is more like the modernaire. This is with the inside camo finish already applied. Our tear will be a 5 X 8.

Jim,

Can you take a side view of that picture so I can trace it?

Mike...

P.S. Shouldn't the camo be on the outside?