Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hello,
This is an excellent site and badly needed.
I am working on my galley at present. I have welded up a steel tubing 1/2" frame for the galley hatch with 3/8" plywood on the outside and 1/8" inside. The galley is now largely complete and I could use some guidelines as to purchasing the correct gas struts and the proper enclosure latch.
Logic dictates that I cover the tubing with my plywood and then weigh it so I have some idea as to what we are dealing with, in final weight. I live in the Rockies and having strong struts to resist the winds' effect of blowing off the hatch lid is a primary concern. I also would like to find a supplier near me, say in Colorado or Arizona.
Thanks for your help to me in the past.

Gene S.

Struts are a mystery. Black magic.

But here's a spreadsheet and diagram that'll figure it out for you:

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=58263

DanLott should get a Teardrop MVP award for putting it together.



Tony

I used the calculator to figure out the details for our struts and it came back that we need 72 lbs of force. On the McMaster site, there are struts of the right length that have 60 lbs of force and then the next up is 90 lbs.
Is is worse to gets ones with lower force and not have it open the hatch or go with the 90 lbs and risk messing up my hinge?

The struts stop at some point and as long as it's that is within the range of motion of the hinge you'll be fine. It will take more force to close but it will also stay up when it's windy better with a stronger strut.

If you have the geometry right, the hatch won't be trying to open on its own when it's down, though there will always be a force on the hinge. Your hinge attachment should be much stronger that you absolutely need: enough fasteners into adequate structure to last through the years. So, if that's the case, going with a stronger spring would be fine.

My advice would be to choose the stronger spring if your calculations put you between.