homemade gasless gas struts

[madjack]

Sunny, the length of the tubes are such that about 4"s of the black tube is still inside the silver(emt) tube when the hatch is opened fully...when the hatch close the black tube slides into the silver tube...there is a pin hole in both tubes so that when pinned, it is a hard fixed length, not allowing the hatch to go up or down, staying securely in place regadless of wind action...We will have them powder coated and there will be an indicator ring on the black tube, so that when it shows, you will know that the pin holes are lined up...we came up with this because we were too broke and/or cheap to buy gas struts...should we decide to add gas struts later, the engineering is already done, just buy struts to match the length of our present setup and connect at the same points
madjack

[critter]

hey madjack,
kewl might see that on the weekender! thanks for the info as always you da man

[madjack]

...another note...while we have not done so at present, you could drill a series of hole in one leg or another(probably the EMT so that it would be adjustable, allowing you to lock the hatch at various positions...don't know why you would want to but you could if you wanted too
madjack

[jje507]

hey madjack,
I really like your gasless struts, think i'll try them myself.
i also like your pvc water tank. does it work o.k.?
i was thinking of trying something like that myself and maybe using black pipe and mounting up top as a canoe rack/solar water heater.
jeff

[cracker39]

sorry I don't have a pic with the hatch closed and it is now skinned so a closed view of the struts is impossible but it works really well....
madjack

It may be possible. Do you have a camera with a timer on it (digital preferred of course)? Set it up inside the galley somewhere so that it aims at the strut. When you are sure it gets the strut in a shot, make sure the flash is on, set the timer, close the hatch, and count to 15. Voila, an inside shot. Where there's a will, there's a way.

[sunny16]

Madjack,
What size of conduit? did you use? I was going to see what/how they fit but never saw the sizes mentioned. It looks like a great idea and just about the right cost!!!!
I might even look into square aluminum tube. I used to have some laying around from an old telescope project a long time ago.

Great idea.

Sunny16

[madjack]

Sunny, the "silver leg" was regular 1/2" EMT type conduit...the black leg is about 3/8's and came from an old fold up camp chair...there is a little slack in these two pipes, we had some tubing that was very tight in the conduit and were afraid that any thing that might dent or ding the outer tube would cause the inner to jamb up tight....in this case, slack is good
madjack

[Mitheral]

sorry I don't have a pic with the hatch closed and it is now skinned so a closed view of the struts is impossible but it works really well....
madjack

Many cameras have a timer built in. Set up your shot, set the timer, close the hatch.

[galen neibarger]

Hey how you doin. I like the gasless struts. I see its made out of elec. conduit and what is the other part that goes in the conduit?. I like it and can I steal this ideal for my second tear the "Around-About".

Galen Neibarger
Ohio

[galen neibarger]

Hey madjack how you doin. I like the gasless struts. I see its made out of elec. conduit and what is the other part that goes in the conduit?. I like it and can I steal this ideal for my second tear the "Around-About".

Galen Neibarger
Ohio

[madjack]

Hey how you doin. I like the gasless struts. I see its made out of elec. conduit and what is the other part that goes in the conduit?. I like it and can I steal this ideal for my second tear the "Around-About".

Galen Neibarger
Ohio

Galen, the inner part came from a fold up chair leg...it fits a little loose and we like it like that because it wont jam if the outer leg gets a dent or warp in it...feel free to steal away...although we are fixin' to replace them with gas stuts so that the ladies can open the hatch easier......
madjack

[Leon]

I don't want the old broomstick style and I don't want to pay for gas struts.

Gas struts are only about $10....
I don't see that as a major expense.

[sushidog]

I don't want the old broomstick style and I don't want to pay for gas struts.

Gas struts are only about $10....
I don't see that as a major expense.

Where would I look for inexpensive struts? I would like to find some large ones that could be used to assist in lifting the top of my planned pop-up tear. I would need a 3 ft extension/lift. Any ideas?

[Mary K]

http://www.austinhardware.com/dept.asp?dept%5Fid=116

Austin Harware has em.....the have alot of stuff to so look around.

Mk

[sushidog]

Thanks. I need a 36" lift though. Do you know if they work upside down?

I could attach two 18" struts together, doubling my lift.