1955 Benroy - Rebuild (08/20/2013 - Painted! Now reassembly)

[dano]

Hey Ted, You can come take a look at mine. However ive built three and none of my hatches have turned out very good.
Dano

[TRP]

HA! We should try to hook up this weekend. Are you going to be around?

T

[dano]

Nope going camping. Ha Ha it has been that way every time. Your going or Im going. Were going to Unionville NV. for the first Twain & Tears teardrop gathering. 20 trailers are going. Were leaving early in the morning.
Let ya know how it was when we get back and anytime after that Id love to get together.

dano

[stevegsmith]

...

I'm just wondering if I should build up the left side edge to match the right side so the two sides are more symmetrical.
Ted

Not sure what you mean. If you had laid the left side skin on top of the right side, would they have been different?
How different are we talkin?

[Techguy]

Does this mean the left outside wall's curve is different than that of the other side? Was the curve changed to accommodate different outside wall curves?

[TRP]

I was looking at the differences last night over a beer.

The curve from side to side didn't change. I clamped the two sides together and sanded them to match after I cut them (waaaaaaaaaaaay back in July).

I think it's a combination of a few things:
1) I didn't use a laser level frame jig to line up the placement of the sides. It's hand built, they may be a little off.
2) We're talking about two separate hand laid laminate pieces - they aren't going to be identical.
3) Minor variations in the curve over a 4' length will result in variances at the end of the curve.

The difference is like 1/8" on some pieces and 1/4 on others. I think I'm going to scrap the ones with the 1/4" difference and simply lay up new pieces and pay closer attention to the side edge/curve on the new pieces. In the end, I only need 5 semi-perfect pieces to lay up the edges and the hatch. If I need to strengthen the hatch any further, I can cut the supports from ply wood like everyone else seems to do.

I mean, people do that for a reason.

Long story short, I think I was over thinking / worrying too much.

We'll see.


Ted

[KCStudly]

Another opton would be to lay them up fat then trim them to exactly what you want with a router template.

I love the fact that you guys are saving a couple of classic oldies; reuse, repair, rebuild.

[stevegsmith]

Here's my hatch before the interior skin glue-up.
Don't fight it Ted. Nothing like 15 ply birch.

[TRP]

Yeah, I'm starting to think you may be on to something. I worked on my hatch this weekend. Below are the results. It's a lot heavier than I had anticipated. Much heavier than the original!

The left side is near perfect. The right side, not as good. The lower right corner wants to creep out a bit. The arc of the right side doesn't quite line up like I'd hoped it would. even though it's missing the outer skin, the arc is off by about 1/8 of an inch. I'm thinking about scrapping this hatch and simply rebuilding it the way you and Mike did yours. Unfortunately that marine grade plywood is really expensive. What thickness did you guys go with?

Please have a look at what I created below and let me know what you think:






Thanks
Ted

[CliffinGA]

Ted mine was off a little also do I made 2 sets of spars by using the walls as the template and routed from it. i attached the plywood to the side with clamps and routed half and moved clamp and routed the rest of that side and then did the other. Took each off and did a 1 1/2" sut to finish each and used to route my others, 4 for each side, then glued 2 together of the same batch to make my outsider spars and used the rest as the spars in the center sections. It worked out good and was better when I attached the outer skin. Its my 2 cents worth on how to do it anyway!Hope it helps bud!

Cliff

[Kim Armstrong]

Can someone tell me what the radius is on the lower part of the side walls front and back? Thanks

[real550A]

Ted, and all...finally, posting from a computer away from home! As I explained to Ted, via email, I have HughesNet
satellite internet and it keeps logging me off, every time I try to post here. Frustrating!
Ted- I used some left over 7 ply, 3/4" sanded plywood for the ribs. Glued two together, then belted them uniform. Seemed
to work well, and the hatch is very strong and light. I treated them with wood sealer, before closing them inside. Mike

[TRP]

Ted, and all...finally, posting from a computer away from home! As I explained to Ted, via email, I have HughesNet
satellite internet and it keeps logging me off, every time I try to post here. Frustrating!
Ted- I used some left over 7 ply, 3/4" sanded plywood for the ribs. Glued two together, then belted them uniform. Seemed
to work well, and the hatch is very strong and light. I treated them with wood sealer, before closing them inside. Mike

I think I'm going to give in and do it that way as well. I thought I had it ready to skin, but I want it perfect. Sooo, tomorrow I will go down and buy some 12 laminate birch ply and do it 'your' way. Hopefully I can make some progress tomorrow. I feel like I've kind of stalled out a bit.

While I was wrestling with keeping what I have vs. doing it over, I focused on the tires and tail light brackets:

Here is what I had. 165 R15's. I picked up some nice Mercury style 10 1/8" baby moons with some 15" ribbed chrome beauty rings :


I thought those tires (above) were a little small. They really didn't fill the wheel wells. So I went to the tire store today and picked up a set of new tires. 215/75 R15 Hankook's with a thin white stripe. I think they fill up the fender well very nicely. Not sure if they are too big or if there is 'too much' going on there. Maybe once it's skinned it won't look so busy:




That's my Son, Austin. He wants flames on the trailer. Oh, I also managed to get some work done on the tail lights. I decided on 37 Ford sedan tail lights with some brackets that I whipped up today. I plan on wrapping the brackets with aluminum skins.

What do you guys think? too much? just right? (The tires/hubcaps, not the flames...)

[Richard Miller]

That looks great, love the ribbed trim rings and the Merc caps. the taillights really look good too. I was thinking of going with with those or 39 Chevy taillights but the mounts were concerning me, looks like you've got that worked out good.

Can you tell me how tall your tires are ? I've got 205/70r 15 on chrome smoothies and they don't quite fill out the fenders either, they are 26½" tall. I also love your fenders, mine just have the rounded edge, they're flat across the top not rounded like yours.

I decided to go with these '40 Willys taillights on my galley hatch I'll be running small1¼" round clearance lights on the fenders and the tear shaped marker lights on the side of the tear body.

Your rebuild looks great, looking forward to seeing it completed.

Richard

[dano]

Ted,
Wheels and tires look great. The tires fill in the fenders just perfect, I think.

Dano