Floppy Hatch

[Scott L]

Hi all,

The hatch on my generic benroy feels pretty floppy. If I grab both unhinged corners and twist there's quite a bit of movement--at least it seems to be quite a bit to me. I'd like it to feel sturdier.

The ribs (6 of them) are 1.5" wide by .75" thick plywood (fir or pine?). I have 3 or 4 pieces of cross bracing between adjacent ribs and the skin is 5mm luan.



Does it stiffen at all when the aluminum skin is on?
How much will skinning the inside of the hatch stiffen it?
If any of you have build a particularly solid hatch, how did you do it?

Thanks
Scott

[doug hodder]

Scott, so when it is open and you tweek it on the end, can you see movement anywhere? Anything that is really noticeable? Is it in the hatch or at the hinge?

What I do is cut small gussets, like only 2-3"" on the long side with 45 degree ends on them, a solid wood, not ply. I epoxy them between the vertical ribs and the horizontal ones. I only use 2 per joint. Butter the ends up with epoxy, and whack them with the brad nailer. Once it's cured...it's rigid. I don't know what you used for a glue, but again, I do the epoxy thing.

Not everyone likes it or the price, but it's like liquid weld on wood in my opinion. Once skinned on both sides...I can lift on only 1 corner and get no movement. I've done 4 like this. Just an idea. Doug

[toypusher]

Scott, if you are planning on skinning the inside, that will stiffen it greatly.

[jdarkoregon]

Scott, being flexible is actually not a bad thing. The trailer will have some movement to it when it travels. It looks like you glued the outer skin to the ribs, If you skin the inside, yeah, it will get more ridgid, but it will also get heavier.

You need to feel confident that it won't fall apart, so how stiff is up to you

John

[Sparksalot]

My hatch is built similar to yours. I just measured, it has about 2 inches of droop on one corner when the other is supported. The good thing about this, is the hatch will snug right down onto the trailer body all the way around when the draw latches are engaged.

[Mini Renegade]

made my hatch (4 foot) with 4 1" thick 2" deep ribs, with spacers in between (2 in each gap plus an extra one in the middle to mount the number plate on). It is very light and skinned on both sides and it has no visible twist when propped at one side, and no springback. I must have been lucky.