Greetings from Down Under

[magilla]

Lyton, welcome to the forum, we are here to help, as you already know. I have found, that since I was building on the cheap, my hatch lid piano hinge fails to hold out a driving rain storm. To solve this problem, I alway carry a roll of red duct tape and stick it over the hinge whenever I am in a rainy condition. Works for me, and the galley is always dry. Good luck.
Roly

Building my tailgate on the weekend.
My stepfather is a bus body builder with a little trade tip, fit some vinyl to the piano hinge before you fit it, I guess that it would then be held between the body, hinge and tailgate. Will soon find out.

CARN THE PIES !!!

[Lynton]

I have found, that since I was building on the cheap, my hatch lid piano hinge fails to hold out a driving rain storm. To solve this problem, I alway carry a roll of red duct tape and stick it over the hinge whenever I am in a rainy condition. Works for me, and the galley is always dry. Good luck.
Roly

I've got a strip of rubber glued and nailed over the piano hinge which does a good job on the hatch lid (but the paint on it has cracked with the flexing).
I used a 3 or 6mm neoprene fridge seal on all the door edges. I also bought some plastic edge strip (about 1" wide) which I used to overlap the outer edges. It was important for me to be able to open any of the 3 doors at the back without opening another so the plastic strip is on the hatch which sits over the side doors. The only point of water getting in on the maiden voyage is the very top corner where they meet. That's going to be fixed when I trim the side door edges off a bit.

My main issue with water is the roof though. Seems to have gone through the paint and into the masonite which has warped now...

You can't see it on the pictures but I have used compression latches on each of the doors. These are the same latches that Jayco use for their boot latches. They have a cam lock and then also pull in to compress the seal. Very cool and really 'batten down the hatches'.
If you are after them in Oz, try and get them from Cararest. I've seen prices from $70ea to $50/pair and called everywhere to find them.
I used them on every door so had 7 pairs. I also had them keyed alike at the local locksmith.

[Lynton]

Building my tailgate on the weekend.
My stepfather is a bus body builder with a little trade tip, fit some vinyl to the piano hinge before you fit it, I guess that it would then be held between the body, hinge and tailgate. Will soon find out.

CARN THE PIES !!!

I built the tailgate about 4 or 5 times. The main issue was with how deep it went with the curve. A lot of the trailers seem to have a tailgate that has a curve at top and then finishes straight-ish. Putting that extra bit of curve in made it all sorts of fun.
1. You can't reinforce it enough
2. Use steel if you can - lighter and more rigid at the end of the day
3. Be patient with the gas struts. It's some form of dark magic to get them working!

I ended up assembling it on the ground, test fiting, disasembled and then assemble on the trailer. It is still a little twisted and catches slightly if closed pushing down just one side.

My time was spent a lot on getting the struts to lift the hatch and then preventing the struts from bowing the hatch out when it was closed. I ended up laminating 2x 15mm ply sheets together (after trying metal braces) and curved them to match the end panels. This is the main reason I'd use metal rather than timber next time - weight and strength.