Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm working on designing the galley hatch, the aluminum trim and the seals. Couple of questions I'd like to ask:

I notice some hatch doors have the seals and the trim they're attached to on the underside of T molding on the galley door itself. Others seem to have the seal (and the track they're attached to) on the 2 side walls of the cabin.
I kind of like the seals on the door as there can also be a seal added on the horizontal bottom of the door where it closes onto the galley floor. If the seals are fixed to the top surfaces of the left and right galley sidewalls (where the galley hatch closes down on top of those seals) I'm not quite sure where that bottom horizontal seal would be placed, on the door or on the galley floor. A bit confused about the seals and trim for the galley door.

The other question.... where the hurricane hinge for the galley hatch is located, there seems to be a space between the 2 two hinges... where it seems water would certainly have a chance to enter. I've attached an image to show what I'm seeing. Any thoughts about how that space is resolved?

Any insights would be appreciated. Also, any sources for good pictures, either on the interweb or other, would be great how to set up the hatch trim and seals.

Thanks very much!!

John

You probably already know what I suggest for a hatch seal:



Dust and water-free.

Grant Whipp came up with a solution to prevent water that hits the hatch while open and running into the galley. It's a rubber D-shaped seal that goes the length off the hatch.



I stuck that short piece on just for the photo. It's only happened to me once in the last nineteen years. (It's dry here.) So I've never needed to do that mod.

If you look at the vertical dirt-line below the hinge on this next photo, you'll see why the hinge protrudes a half-inch beyond the walls.





Tony

Thanks Tony and Danny for your comments. This hatch sealing is taking some thinking about. I'm still not clear if it's more advantageous to have the seal
on the actual hatch or on the cabin walls. The way I'm working on it now is having it attached to the cabin walls with a horizontal strip running along bottom
of galley floor area, to seal that bottom area. I have the hurricane hinges extending over the right and left sides a good amount. I see the wisdom in that.
And thanks for the tip about that other piece of neoprene sealing strip running along the top of the hurricane hinge.

Danny, I've posted a picture with a couple of questions. If you could please let me know your thoughts, that would be helpful.

Thank you again!
John

The king of cheap here...... 3 stanley door hinges (used from somewhere...) covered by some rubber gasket material and held down with 2 aluminum stips. Used same idea on 3 builds never a drop inside, Note long dog ears to allow for run off !

bobhenry wrote:The king of cheap here...... 3 Stanley door hinges (used from somewhere...) covered by some rubber gasket material and held down with 2 aluminum strips....

* Used three gate hinges (with nylon bearings) to hang the hatch, then I took a hint from bobhenry's build(s)(also being on a tight/no budget build myself), and used some discarded conveyor-belt material from work to make my hatch-gap cover (and later for fender extensions and mudflaps...I'm still sorta cheap, too). I used similar aluminum strips and a lot of PL Premium adhesive and stainless bolts/fender washers/nuts to secure it. It leaked on my first outing, because it had pinhole perf orations in it, but I coated the underside with bedliner, so it never leaked again.

With any seal/gasket, assume it will leak eventually and design the opening with gutters or channels to carry away any leakage OR design the opening so water is carried away before it hits the gasket so the gasket serves as a "last resort".

As far as the bottom of the hatch, I followed Fredrick's manual and sealed it to the top of the floor:



It worked but water tended to sit along with the seal and a couple of times, the hatch froze to the floor. (Another good reason to epoxy the galley floor.)

After that first build, I have always built the hatch so that it seals to the rear of the floor. It works well.





Tony

Thanks very much for the help.... Danny those last pictures you shared are very helpful. Thank you.