Torpedo hinges and air conditioning: yet another option

[Gern Blanston]

Some of you might find this interesting or useful. As discussed in previous posts, we used loose-joint, lift off "torpedo" hinges on our Three Texas Teardrop Trailer projects. These doors and hinges turned out to be strong and (we think) nice looking. http://www.austinhardware.com/dept.asp?dept%5Fid=370

Our torpedo hinges allow for quick and easy removal of the door, so for each of our trailers, we made an extra door with an air conditioner mount. This allows us to leave the AC (and door) at home if not needed, or to carry it in the truck if its going to be hot.

This method may not be for everyone, especially if you don't have extra room in your tow vehicle for the spare door and AC, or if the weight of the unit is too much for you to lift easily. We don't plan on trailering with the AC mounted, but to lift it in as we set up camp where 120v is available.

It is your typical chain store 5000 btu AC window unit, weighs about 40 pounds.

Whattya think?

[Bandit]

I am also using the Torpedo Hinges. Are they strong enough that you get no sag with the A/C Unit?
Do you still use the door with the A/C?

[Gern Blanston]

No, we don't use the door. There's no door handle on the outside, and only a latch on the inside. We only lift the door on and off. You are right, the hinges should NOT hold the weight of the AC over an extended period of opening and closing the door.

We also put shims under the door to keep it from sagging.

(edit) Actually, the hinges are probably strong enough, but the weight would probably pull the screws from the plywood.

[madjack]

GB, slick idea, available to those that use that type of hinge ........................................

[bledsoe3]

The hinges work really good when you're fitting the door. Just lift it off to do your adjustments or add trim and set it back in place when you're done.

[Gern Blanston]

the hinges should NOT hold the weight of the AC over an extended period of opening and closing the door.
We also put shims under the door to keep it from sagging.

Upon further review, it seems I was overly concerned about the sagging doors. No shims are necessary, and the doors remain usable even with AC installed.

It appears that our system works really well. We built a flange onto the air conditioner with aluminum angle channel, and simply bolt the assembly into the door opening. I was worried that the AC weight might cause the door to sag, but that's not the case. The torpedo hinges are quite strong. Joe says he wouldn't be afraid to pull his trailer, nor to open and close the door normally with the AC installed. He went ahead and installed an exterior door latch on his. I believe he is right.

We did some operational tests of the removable air conditioning doors during a recent trip to Palo Duro Canyon, TX where the afternoon temperature was in the upper 90's. It took me 4 minutes to change doors on Charlie and install the air conditioner. On Alpha, Joe did his in TWO minutes. (But he's had practice, and he used good tools.)

The 5000 btu AC unit cools the trailer down to walk-in beer cooler temperature in about 15 minutes. I pulled up the covers and slept good in mine.

[rampage]

Thanks for the tip, Gern. I might do the same thing.

[riverfront]

An idea I came up with for a friend to mount a 5000btu A/C unit in his pop up:

The pop up in question has hard sides with windows but would work here if you installed a window in the door that could be removed easily by taking out the mounting screws!

I made a mounting board (as pictured in my album as I am not sure how to post it here) of 3/4 ply - 8" wider and 6" higher then the window opening. In the center of the 3/4 ply I cut out so the A/C would just fit. On the side that would be flush to the window wall (or door in this case) I put heavy duty velcro strips (as shown). I then held the mounting board up to the removed window opening so the bottom of the cut out area was flush with the bottom of the window opening. I noted where the velcro was and installed the opposing piece on the wall. Then I test fit the mounting board to make sure I lined up velcro and my base for which the A/C would sit. I put the A/C in the hole and mounted it to the ply with short screws. We now can sleep in comfort as we did for a four day fishing trip!

The velcro held great and to remove I just grabbed the top of the ply and popped it off the wall!

Caution: Use the wide heavy duty velcro and also remember the water in the bottom of the unit when removing! LOL (we forgot!).

I hope this may help someone or maybe a modification of this will work for you!

[riverfront]

Forgot! We painted the ply to match the interior after routing a rolled edge but not the surface that the velcro was affixed to(thought it might come off)!

I guess you could put thin weatherstripping on the velcro side and arround the unit but it was so snug that we didn't!

If you mounted it in like a front or side wall you could install a utility door that flipped up and out resting on the top of the unit when in use.

It took less then a minute to remove the window and install the A/C!

We thought about sliders for a more perminant(sp) install but felt the bouncing in travel may cause problems so that is how I came up with this idea due to the need to be removed when the camper was folded down with a window install