Alaskan Benroy

[ratrod71]

...Sounds good to me! Your hatch framing looks excellent. [/quote]

Thanks Sharon! I worked on cutting the inner and outer hatch skins this weekend. They are ready put into place. Bryan

[ukewarrior]

Can you please show some closeup photos of how you are going to seal the overlap of the outside hatch skin against the side walls?

I'm at the exact same stage with my build and I'm a bit stuck as to how to weather strip it and keep it dry.

Thanks !

[ratrod71]

Can you please show some closeup photos of how you are going to seal the overlap of the outside hatch skin against the side walls?

I'm at the exact same stage with my build and I'm a bit stuck as to how to weather strip it and keep it dry.

Thanks !

Follow this link to Vintage Technologies website. http://teardroptrailerparts.com/Offset_T_Molding.html . I am going to do it just how they show it with an insert molding on top of the side wall with the weatherstip inside the insert area, then the "Offset T Molding" affixed to the hatch. Hope this helps. Bryan

[ukewarrior]

Thanks for sharing this. It is indeed very nice.
I'm hoping to find something a bit more economical.
one 6' strip of just the t-molding is $25 before shipping.
My build will have a PMF outer covering, not aluminum, so I trying to find something that can just hide under the overlap plywood on top of the side walls.[/quote]

Follow this link to Vintage Technologies website. http://teardroptrailerparts.com/Offset_T_Molding.html . I am going to do it just how they show it with an insert molding on top of the side wall with the weatherstip inside the insert area, then the "Offset T Molding" affixed to the hatch. Hope this helps. Bryan[/quote]

[ratrod71]

Thanks for sharing this. It is indeed very nice.
I'm hoping to find something a bit more economical.
one 6' strip of just the t-molding is $25 before shipping.
My build will have a PMF outer covering, not aluminum, so I trying to find something that can just hide under the overlap plywood on top of the side walls.

How about a narrow strip of aluminum riveted or bonded to the bottom of the overlap? I have seen strips of aluminum at Home Depot in their hardware section. I believe you can find other teardrop hatches done this way on this website.

[ratrod71]

This weekends project was to glue the inner hatch skin to the frame. Materials used are 1/8" birch plywood and PL Premium adhesive and many clamps. Will let it sit for a couple of days while the adhesive dries. I found I really had to check for squareness! I had to tweak it several times before it was just right. Happy building, Bryan

[ratrod71]

The hatch inner skin is installed and varnished with spar urethane. Ran the wiring for the galley and license plate light. Installed the galley LED light. I used a 4-way trailer connector for the wiring so the hatch could be removed easily if needed. Installed the outer skin with PL adhesive, and when that was set up I routed the edges flush. The hatch fits great. It is remarkably strong and rigid with zero springback. Happy building, Bryan

[KCStudly]

Very nice!!!

[dales133]

Nice work its coming along great

[ratrod71]

Thanks guys for the kind words! Much appreciated. Bryan

[ratrod71]

Installed the top skin of .040 mill finish aluminum. 4X10 sheets cost me $93 each in Fairbanks. Sure grateful they came with the protective coating on them. I chose to seal the perimiter edges with 3M 4200.

[azgreg]

Nice work. This is easily one of my favorite builds here.

[ratrod71]

Nice work. This is easily one of my favorite builds here.

Thank you so much Azgreg for the very kind words!

[ratrod71]

The .040 aluminum sheets for the sides are now cut and ready to install. I made a template of both radiuses of the side profile out of plywood, then sandwiched the sheet aluminum against the side. Then I cut the aluminum following the pattern. The cuts were made just a little large, and will trimmed up with a router. To cut the door openings, I drilled a series of small holes matching the opening from the inside out. Then connected the dots on the outside, and made the cuts. All the cuts were made with the sheet aluminum against the side of the trailer, which proved to be very stable. Worked out great.

[Vedette]

Your progress is steady and your work looks very very nice. You should be proud of what you have accomplished and also proud of what you are going to have when it is finshed!
Keep up the Great work and Thanks for sharing your build with the rest of us here on the Forum.
We look forward to seeng it in person some day.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi