silver spaceship

[Cliffmeister2000]

Do you have a photo from the inside of the Stargazer Skylight open? Does it open far enough to see the stars when you are laying down?

[R. W. Alexander]

Do you have a photo from the inside of the Stargazer Skylight open? Does it open far enough to see the stars when you are laying down?

You be the judge. I am going to add another 6 inches to the side bars that hold the awing up. So the awing for the Stargazer will be 30 inches plus from the closed position.

[Cliffmeister2000]

It looks pretty good from that angle, but lying down looking straight up?

I'm not trying to pick your design apart, in fact I love it! I'm just curious about the interference, if any.

[Rlowell]

Do you have a photo from the inside of the Stargazer Skylight open? Does it open far enough to see the stars when you are laying down?

You be the judge. I am going to add another 6 inches to the side bars that hold the awing up. So the awing for the Stargazer will be 30 inches plus from the closed position.

I had the same question; but it sure looks great from here.
What a way cool idea!!!
Rod

[R. W. Alexander]

It looks pretty good from that angle, but lying down looking straight up?

I'm not trying to pick your design apart, in fact I love it! I'm just curious about the interference, if any.

Your more than welcome to look at the design, and give comments both good and bad. That's how things get improved.

As for the amount of sky that can be seen through the window while laying down inside the trailer. I used my protractor and got about 20-30 degrees of view. I can get more but that would mean un-bolting the bars that hold the awing up. And swinging the awning back on top of the trailer. The Strargazer window would not compare with laying out under the stars with a sleeping bag.

But with how light the trailer is. I could just turn the trailer a certain direction to get a niece view of the night sky that I would like to look at that night.

[Cliffmeister2000]

Very nice! You can use it tonight and spot meteors.

[Jst83]

That is sweet I so wanted to put a big skylight in my camper to watch the stars nice job

[R. W. Alexander]

I took the trailer to a landscape rock supply company, that is up the road from where I live, and got a weight on the trailer. It weighed in at 640 lbs. I was pretty happy about that. Since in my state you do not need to license at trailer that weighs under 750 lbs. The tear drop pulls great on the road too.

Since I got trailer done, I went back and fixed some more items that I was not happy with, like the formed angles that go over the sides of the front awing and back galley. I had made the first ones out of some leftover .032 aluminum, and the bending and forming with the a hammer was not as good as I had hoped for. So I got a few pieces of .09 and .125 aluminum flat bar, and did some machining and welding. This newer design is longer(1 1/2" instead of 1/2") and fits closer to the P-shaped gasket on the inside of the galley edge.






I also made a license plate holder for a custom license plate that I want to make.

[Rlowell]

That looks great. I like the plate holder as well.
Rod

[R. W. Alexander]

I was looking at how I did the holders for the galley hatch the other day, and thought it could be better than how I made them the first time. The holders were two 1 inch pieces of wooden dowel rod, and they folded up into the center of the inside of the galley lid, and were placed on some formed aluminum flat bar. They looked ugly hanging there, and I wanted to keep the inside of the galley hatch clear.

So I had to do some more thinking on how to remedy this problem. I wanted some struts that would curve with the shape of the galley lid, and fold away nice and clean, plus I wanted to carry the weight of the galley lid from the furthest point from the hinge for stability.

I then realized I had already cut the parts.....sort of. I had 2 pieces of 3/4" plywood that i did not use for the galley internal framework. they had the right curve need to set tight against the inside of the inner wall of the galley when folded, and they had a nice curve that would compliment the curves of the Tear Drop. This is what I came up with.


In this first photo this is a piece of pine with a 1 inch hole drilled 1 inch deep into the pine block. the curved piece of 3/4" plywood has a 1 inch piece of dowel rod screwed and glued to the end, so it will sit inside the holder.



In the next 2 photos it shows the galley hatch struts in the open and closed positions. The first pair of struts when folded closed pointed inward instead of how I have it now.






It's a funny thing about these trailers. You work on them, then a few days later you look at them and see a entirely different way of doing something on them.

[Rlowell]

I was looking at how I did the holders for the galley hatch the other day, and thought it could be better than how I made them the first time. The holders were two 1 inch pieces of wooden dowel rod, and they folded up into the center of the inside of the galley lid, and were placed on some formed aluminum flat bar. They looked ugly hanging there, and I wanted to keep the inside of the galley hatch clear.

So I had to do some more thinking on how to remedy this problem. I wanted some struts that would curve with the shape of the galley lid, and fold away nice and clean, plus I wanted to carry the weight of the galley lid from the furthest point from the hinge for stability.

I then realized I had already cut the parts.....sort of. I had 2 pieces of 3/4" plywood that i did not use for the galley internal framework. they had the right curve need to set tight against the inside of the inner wall of the galley when folded, and they had a nice curve that would compliment the curves of the Tear Drop. This is what I came up with.


In this first photo this is a piece of pine with a 1 inch hole drilled 1 inch deep into the pine block. the curved piece of 3/4" plywood has a 1 inch piece of dowel rod screwed and glued to the end, so it will sit inside the holder.



In the next 2 photos it shows the galley hatch struts in the open and closed positions. The first pair of struts when folded closed pointed inward instead of how I have it now.






It's a funny thing about these trailers. You work on them, then a few days later you look at them and see a entirely different way of doing something on them.

That is a great way of thinking.
Great job. And it looks sweet!!
Rod

[R. W. Alexander]

The wife put on the some of the nice touches to the tear drop. She found some cloth with a mountain scene, and made some curtains. I put in some led interior lights which I mounted to the door. That way they can serve double duty for both lighting the inside of the tear, and when opening the door the outside of the tear. I also put in a couple of coat racks next to the doors on both sides, and if you look at the door handle I installed a cheap door lock. I consists of 1 door hinge pin. I drilled one hole above the handle to store the pin, and drilled another hole sideways through the block of wood into the door jamb, to lock the door. I wanted to keep thing simple on this tear.




I also made a special plate for the tear since I do not need to license it.




The next item will be getting rid of the stains and marks on the aluminum. But I won't work on that until after a few trips.

[High Desert]

I gotta say, I really like this build. Clean, efficient, lightweight and custom style twists in a single package. Thanks for sharing it and congrats!

[YuGun]

Ä° like it.

[Rlowell]

This build just gets better and better.
Can you tell me how you applied that hatch molding and it's dimensions. That is the type that I want to use on my weekender rather than cutting out the ridge on the walls.
Thanks.
Rod