by DANL » Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:48 am
Hi Forrest,
From the picture at left you can see that I do have a hatch in the front and the rear. My front hatch will be mainly for big ventilation with a possible pass-through if needed.
The potential problem with using both front and rear hatches that I discovered is the virtual loss of all diagonal rigidity. In a single hatch tear, the galley wall and the front wall create the rigidity of a box. With a two hatch setup, all strength must stem from the galley wall and whatever small portion of front wall you have. I found that the front opening would flex diagonally just like a floppy parallelogram.
Since I am using mine for a screen window and don't need to have access through it, my solution is to use aluminum diagonal braces in the opening--not as elegant a solution as I could have wished for but it will have to do. Also, my galley wall is built like a battleship. First tests seem to indicate that this will work ok.
A possible solution for two full height hatches might be to incorporate a steel or aluminum "roll cage" concept. Starts to move some weight higher in the trailer though.
Have fun...