Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I finished skinning my hatch tonight.

I have spring-back issues.

I was thinking of a way to fix it.

I was thinking of using aviation cable hidden inside the hatch.



I need to pull it back 3/4" on one side & 1/2" on the other.

Do you guy think this would work or would it straighten it more?

Also, how do you keep the galley hatch centered in the opening if you use a hurricane hinge?

Rainjer...I had the same problem on my first tear, as I used 1/4" material for the interior and the exterior, it was sitting around and I wanted to use it up....for me, I had to build up material on the ribs to make up for the gap...I think you have a good solution. This time around I went with 1/8 material skin and ply laminated ribs..no problem. I just laminated up a couple of trim strips on the first one...didn't think about the cable trick...I think I could have avoided the problem if I set the hatch in some sort of a jig while the epoxy cured...20/20 hindsight I guess...get what you can out of it with the cable and make up the rest with weatherstripping, and I would mount the eyelets 90 degrees to the pull on the cable....Doug

Rainjer,

When I built my hatch I anticipated having the same problem with spring back so I bought the cables and eyelets to do the same thing you have pictured. As it turned out, I decided the small amount of spring back I had when finished wasn't worth the effort to install the cables. It's a great idea for pulling the arch back into the hatch lid though. Let us know how it works for you.

If you have spring back issues, it means you didn't build it correctly. I would think it would be easier to rebuild than to string wire and then have tension in your hatch all the time. If you run you stringers up and down instead of cross ways, you won't have the problem. It will be a little more work doing it that way but you won't have to worry about spring back. And you don't need to skin with 1/4", 1/8" ply will work just fine. You can see the way I did it at the following link. http://www.gages-56.com/tear12.html Oh, the bottom pic shows my hatch just laying in place.




Have a good day.

I can build a teardrop, piece of cake.

Gage,
That is basically the way I built it. I used 4, 3/4" X 1 3/4" vertical ribs. (4' wide trailer) I skinned it with 1/8 luan. The hatch is about 62" long with basically a 48"' radius. I have cross bocking every 12" or so. I seems to have flattened out in different spots on both sides.

I will mess with it after work tomorrow.

Aw, now I know the rest of the story (your hatch being 62"). I'll bet your skin is laying length ways. It'll always want to go back straight. That's one reason for building the hatch 4' high. You can lay the ply/luan cross ways and it will almost form itself. So the cable route is most likely the way your going to have to go. Be sure to bush the holes in the cross blocks and then hope it doesn't rip out the blocks when tightening it up. 3/4 to 1/2 inch is quite a bit to try and pull in the way you have it laid out. Good luck. You might rethink the size of your hatch. Do you really need it to be 5 feet?

Have a good day.

I say go for it, try the cable and turnbuckle and see how it works out. Then, let us know.

I'll have to disagree with Gage on this one. Adding the cables is a lot easier than rebuilding the hatch. Besides, if it doesn't work you will probably have to rebuild the hatch anyway.

I built my hatch with 4 3/4ply ribs, as you can see it is a pretty big hatch since it wraps around the galley. It has a bunch of triangle braces in the corners. The hatch alone has 65 individual pieces to it. Luckily for me, I didn't have any springback issues. How to find a replacement for that high tech 2X4.

Rainjer,

It doesn't seem that the cable strung through the blocking the way that you've shown will do anything. I might be missing something . But, if you ran the cable straight from eyelet to eyelet or through three additional eyelets on the inside of each block, the top & bottom would pull together. Or instead of cable, how about a 1/16x3/4 aluminum strap? Either way, the string of the bow will have to clear cabinets ect. in the galley. They'd make handy towel racks too!

Fred

:peace:

Rainjer,

On my first try of building my hatch, I had "spring back". Only I didn't know that it was called that. Thanks for sharing your problem, otherwise, I would have been left thinking that I just screwed up my first attempt.

Todah

Last night before I tarped my trailer, I wet the hatch down really well & then pulled it into shape with some bungee cord & shims.

Today when I uncovered it, IT FITS!!!!!!

NO MORE SPRING BACK!!! (less than 1/8")

The combo of the water & the heat under the blue tarp must have done the trick.

Pictures to follow....

Rainjer,

I'd put draw down latches on soon. That will keep the hatch from springing back later. My hatch will try to spring back if I leave it open for a long time (say a week). A few days with the latches on and its back in shape.
Bruce

Bruce, this has bothered me for a long time. On your map, how did you get from FL to TX?

Arne wrote:Bruce, this has bothered me for a long time. On your map, how did you get from FL to TX?

An airplane or boat would probably work.

Arne wrote:Bruce, this has bothered me for a long time. On your map, how did you get from FL to TX?

I just flew in and boy are my arms tired.

Thats a map of where I've gone. The trailer map has a lot less color on it but the Redwoods trip will help.
Bruce

Arne wrote:Bruce, this has bothered me for a long time. On your map, how did you get from FL to TX?

Thank you.

I didn't want to look like a NOOB and ask.