Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Kenny, I used the living hinge for my hatch also and covered the whole thing with epdm (no leaks). Browse my gallery you'll see some of the details I posted. Walt

I've used both stainless and aluminum piano hinges for doors, got them from Mcmaster.com. Both worked well. I mounted them so only the barrel of the hinge shows to the outside.

Walt M wrote:Kenny, I used the living hinge for my hatch also and covered the whole thing with epdm (no leaks). Browse my gallery you'll see some of the details I posted. Walt

I couldn’t really see the hinge install after the top was on (that white is pretty reflective in the photos). Does the EPDM cover the hinge and that where the water-proofing comes from? Just curious why you didn’t mount the hinge flat on top, which would have covered the gap?

For what it's worth... I'm gonna throw my 2 1/2 cents worth of experience in here. I got my stainless hinge from Cheapo Depot. I had to cut it to length; no problem. The tear sits outside uncovered, the body of the hinge and the screws weather just fine. The pin that goes the length of the barrel... not so fine. I don't think that's stainless, it's rusting! Not bad; but enough to leave a small streak below it on the side of the tear.

tinksdad wrote:For what it's worth... I'm gonna throw my 2 1/2 cents worth of experience in here. I got my stainless hinge from Cheapo Depot. I had to cut it to length; no problem. The tear sits outside uncovered, the body of the hinge and the screws weather just fine. The pin that goes the length of the barrel... not so fine. I don't think that's stainless, it's rusting! Not bad; but enough to leave a small streak below it on the side of the tear.

streaks! not good on tears or undies

Kenny, I didn't want the hinge to be prominent on the tear. so I tried to conceal the best I could. I installed it so my second layer of 1/8" ply would but up to the hinge rather than have the hinge installed on top of the ply. as you can see I also installed the hinge at a right angle I figured that if the wind ever got a hold of the hatch it would be more difficult to rip off the hinge. Walt

I used a piano hinge on no. 1 and got a tiny bit of sag. After all, the door was supported only at the front and bounced down the highway for 30k miles.

My answer on no. 2 was to add a support at the back of the door to give support on both ends.... and easier than changing hinges.

It is a block of wood with one of those plastic chair leg sliders. Last pic on page 8, but you can't see the slider, it's underneath. When closed, that block sits on the door inside door frame which holds the door perimeter seal.

Walt M wrote:Kenny, I didn't want the hinge to be prominent on the tear. so I tried to conceal the best I could. I installed it so my second layer of 1/8" ply would but up to the hinge rather than have the hinge installed on top of the ply. as you can see I also installed the hinge at a right angle I figured that if the wind ever got a hold of the hatch it would be more difficult to rip off the hinge. Walt

I got that pic... now what goes on top of that to finish it off and seal it?

Arne wrote: Last pic on page 8

I looked in your album and on your link, but page 8 didn't exist in your album and didn't have a picture on you link... Just because I talk slow doesn't mean I'm stupid, though it might...

tinksdad wrote:I don't think that's stainless, it's rusting! Not bad; but enough to leave a small streak below it on the side of the tear.

Sadly, cheap piano hinge which says it's either stainless or brass is likely to have an ordinary steel pin. This means the rust only gets out at the joints between each knuckle of the hinge, but that's enough to streak. Anyone who's a perfectionist might want to look for "all stainless steel" hinge or similar.

Andrew

the page numbers are on the upper left side of the first page... page 8 looks like it exists.... anyone else have a problem locating it?

anyway, the idea is to add support for the back end of the door instead of letting the piano hinge do all the work.

Arne wrote:the page numbers are on the upper left side of the first page... page 8 looks like it exists.... anyone else have a problem locating it?

anyway, the idea is to add support for the back end of the door instead of letting the piano hinge do all the work.

Not following that

Kenny the hinge is raised up 1/4" above the roof frame member so when I applied two layers of 1/8" ply the hinge and the ply are even. You can see in the pic the the hinge on the harch side is lying on top of one ply layer and the second layer butts up to the hinge on the hatch, so the hatch and roof are smooth then I covered the whole thing with 060 epdm rubber. You can't see the hinge at all,it's completely hidden. Does that help? Walt

Jst83 wrote:

Arne wrote:the page numbers are on the upper left side of the first page... page 8 looks like it exists.... anyone else have a problem locating it?

anyway, the idea is to add support for the back end of the door instead of letting the piano hinge do all the work.

Not following that

OK now I do we're talking about galley hinges. I was thinking door hinge.

Walt that's sort of the look I was going for when I put the hinge under the top layer of ply on the galley.

Im planning on using a brass hinge I salvaged from an old piano, hope it will work.