Rear Door Seals

[dmschellaz99]

I have my teardrop setup with rear cargo doors. My challenge is sealing the spot up at the top where the two doors comes together and the weatherstripping meet. It leaves a gap between the weather stripping where water seeps though. Any thoughts on how to change the construction to seal better?

[dmschellaz99]

Here are some photos of the doors for context.

[edgeau]

How about putting the weather strip on the body so you can run one long one right across the top?

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[troubleScottie]

You might try a thinner strip -- the doors should be flush. Could be a smaller diameter round piece or a thinner rectangular piece. Also, reduce the amount in the actual hinge area. That would make the biggest change allowing the top (and bottom) edges to meet.

Not sure from the picture, but it would be useful to have some sort of sil/jam to push up against. Many house exterior doors have only the smallest bead of weather stripping and work well.

And maybe a trim piece to overhang the door, essentially a small gutter to redirect the flow of water away from the door. Something you see over the side doors on many TD. Obviously there is not a lot of space for it.

[troubleScottie]

Your design makes it really difficult. It is like upside down flashing. You have a design that collects water. To a large extent, this is why making your own door is difficult. Doing a TD side door must address this. Typically, the doors have small opening ( 1/8 to 1/4 ) and are flush when closed.



No matter where the seals are, water can be trapped above them. Another improvement might suggest using the green location and make sure water can flow away from the top edge. Obviously, this has problems of water will stand against the surface due to water tension or if the TD is un-level. And possible rust of the metal.

The classic hurricane hinge is designed to keep out the water ( sealed the length of the hinge to the hatch and the roof ) and has a gutter to redirect the water that might get into the hinge.



The side edges of many hatches have physical barriers such that the water must run up hill to get over/by it. In addition, water is expected to get by the seals and into the barriers, so they are designed to drain. Even without the seals, this design would slow water penetration. The most likely hatch edge would have seals 1 and 3. (This would not work well for the top edge of the hatch)