The Unorthodox Wood Duck

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The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby Chinookered » Fri May 09, 2014 2:43 pm

Okay, so here is my tentative design: (Firstly, I apologize for the sketch-up skills. I just learned the stupid program over the last two days. I'm much more of a draw it by hand or old school CAD type of guy.) If I find a scanner, maybe I'll scan in all my napkin designs.

I call it the Wood Duck. Why, because from the profile, I think it looks like a duck's head. And I want to make it out of wood. Boom. The Wood Duck. And yes, I know its not a true tear drop, but looking at a utilitarian style to maximize space and given that in todays cars aerodynamics do play some role, but not as much as they used to, I'm going with it.

The trailer is guestimated from the http://www.redtrailers.com 5x8 trailer with the beefed up axle, 13" tires and 36" tongue extension. The overall TD dimensions are 9' long, 5' wide and 4' tall from the floor to the top of the roof.

There will be some in floor storage for things like camp chairs, electrical, whiskey, etc. I have toyed with the idea of making a hinged drop down wine storage rack under the gallery between the spars in the trailer. Simple in my mind, not so simple in construction. I am also thinking of putting a bike rack to hold two bikes bolted to the front storage bin. I would then make the bin hinged like a corvette hood and open from the year. I suppose it depend on the clearance from there to my vehicle if the bikes would hit it or not.

Electrical: I haven't completely decided where to store the deep cycle batteries yet, but my options are in the front storage bin or in the lower cabinets next to the cooler. I guess it will depend how the weight and balance shakes out. I'm planning on adding a exhaust vent/fan, but I haven't completely decided on AC yet. If I did, the unit would be built into the front storage with exhaust vent out the side and duct work into the cabin area. BUT, I live in the midwest and I'm not sure that its needed.

A Couple of caveats: First: I know my walls have no thickness. It was an oversight when I was using sketch-up and I was too lazy to go back and adjust everything. I haven't totally decided what my plan is there yet. I'm thinking 1/4" outside skin, internal frame with foam and 1x2s and an 1/8" internal skin. I am thinking about having a rack on top for canoes which I would weld uprights from the frame for mounting

Second: I haven't come across a design yet like this in the gallery, but I wanted to do a dutch door style opening. (my inspiration came from an old Astro van that my family had FOREVER that had it. But in adding to the complication to this design, the lower doors will be on a two part hinge so they can open, wrap around the wall and tie back out of the way; OR The second part of that, is I was thinking of using some sort of pin style hinge in which the doors could theoretically lift, turn flat and slide into a holder to create side tables. (As shown in some of the drawings) In my mind this should be easy. In reality, I guess we'll find out. So there you have it.

I would love the feedback to see what you experts in the field think. Pretty Please? Or if I've DRASTICALLY overlooked something really simple, please let me know.

Side Profile (SEE!? It kind of looks like a duck head)
Image

Galley
Image

Rear With Closed Doors and Open
Image
Image

No Roof, Showing Interior and Storage
Image
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby tony.latham » Fri May 09, 2014 3:24 pm

It took me a moment to realize you are using the lower hatch doors as side tables. I like the idea. How are they going to attach to the cabin? For me, it'd be a challenge to seal those doors. But maybe that's just me.

Keep in mind, I find building the hatch a rather simple problem. I've done it twice now using Steve Fredrick's method he oulines in his 256 page teardrop Shop Manual.

Someone might chime in on the radius of your front curve. It looks tight to me for bending plywood, but maybe not. It's similar to a Benroy.

Enjoy your build.

Tony
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby Chinookered » Fri May 09, 2014 4:46 pm

tony.latham wrote:It took me a moment to realize you are using the lower hatch doors as side tables. I like the idea. How are they going to attach to the cabin? For me, it'd be a challenge to seal those doors. But maybe that's just me.

Keep in mind, I find building the hatch a rather simple problem. I've done it twice now using Steve Fredrick's method he oulines in his 256 page teardrop Shop Manual.

Someone might chime in on the radius of your front curve. It looks tight to me for bending plywood, but maybe not. It's similar to a Benroy.

Enjoy your build.

Tony


Tony,

I was thinking that when closed, the doors would attach to the cabin via large hinge pin style brackets. (Almost like what you would find on a heavy duty house door, or the removable doors of a jeep wrangler) To try and keep water out, I would wrap the interior of the doors with a rubber or foam tubing, like what you'd find in a car door. Like the Astro van, there would be some overlap. (I basically left that part out of the sketchup design, but it was in my head) The right door would over lap the left door a bit and then the top would overlap the two bottom doors to help alleviate water intrusion. Thats my line of thinking anyway.

So yeah, basically, I was thinking of building two flat Jeep Wrangler Doors as my back doors. The pins would then slide into a horizontal bracket mounted on the side of the TD to create the table.

The front radius is 18" and if its too tight for 1/4" plywood, what I may have to do is layer 2 1/8" plywood sheets OR make my radius bigger. Either way a possibility. If I made the radius bigger, I may drop the front window.
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby tony.latham » Sat May 10, 2014 12:49 pm

It's an interesting thought.

If It were me (I'd probably just build a rounded hatch), but if I wanted to go with that design, I'd consider placing a second hurricane hinge on the top of your vertical doors/tables and figure out how to place four of the spring loaded draw latches on the bottom of the trailer to pull the two pieces into the foam seals.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#spring-draw-latches/=rwnmdo

You could leave the top half of the hurricane hinge one piece (on your counter edge) and the bottom half cut in two for your doors/tables. They'd just slide in place.

I don't know if the turbulence of the back of your flat spot, while travelling down the road on a rainy day would cause water to go up inside the hinge? Maybe.

Did I mention that'd I'd just build a tradtional tried and true curved hatch? 8) They're not that hard to do. And I take a camp table with me. You might consider purchasing a copy of Steve Fredrick's teardrop Shop Manual. I'm a big beleiver in his hatch construction method. http://www.campingclassics.com/shopman05.html

There's a reveiw or two of his manual on this forum.

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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby jstrubberg » Mon May 12, 2014 10:46 am

I think a removable door is gonna be hard to pull off. What about adding a countertop to the top of your doors that slides underneath the main counter? You'll lost an inch of cabinet height, but then your doors can just swing open and pin there, giving you both your side tables and storage on the inside of the door.

Several here have done something similar and it seems to work out well.

Bob Henry did one here

viewtopic.php?t=16596&p=218702

The only thing I would change from Bob's design to get what you are wanting is to make the swing outs countertop only instead of a full cabinet, and arrange the pivot hinge flush with the back wall so that they can pivot past 90 degrees.
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby twinight » Mon May 12, 2014 11:49 am

jstrubberg wrote:I think a removable door is gonna be hard to pull off.


There are marine hinges with removable pins such as this that could work:
http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/prod ... atch-hinge

Or ones that can lift off the pin to come apart:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-316-S ... 1331230446
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby Chinookered » Mon May 12, 2014 12:44 pm

I really think its going to be fairly easy. Look at any new Jeep Wrangler door. Removable, Watertight (with the right D shaped gasket) door. I would put some sort of clasp lock or spring door handle in the floor of the TD to keep the doors tight when closed. The jeep hinges are simple, strong and effective.

Top Hinge:

http://www.quadratec.com/products/13009_12.htm

Receiver Hinge (mounted to the sides of the TD)
http://www.quadratec.com/products/13010_10X_PG.htm

It should allow the clearance and stiffness that I would need for it. And then for mounting the doors to the side for tables, I'd mount another set of the receiver hinges and be good to go. Granted, its still a theory, and I definitely appreciate the input, but I think the idea should be possible.
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby KCStudly » Mon May 12, 2014 2:14 pm

You could also separate the functions. Use lift off hinges to remove the doors from the hatch and use table mount extrusion to attach the door to the side of the camper as a table.

Trim Seal by Trim Lok might be a good choice for sealing the doors and galley. (Also available from McMaster-Carr.)
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby Chinookered » Mon May 12, 2014 8:05 pm

Thanks for the info! Is there anything McMaster-Carr doesn't carry?
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby KCStudly » Mon May 12, 2014 11:37 pm

I didn't see scotch in their catalog, but I bet if you called them they could get it dropped shipped for you (not)! :lol:
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby Woodbutcher » Tue May 13, 2014 8:01 am

Check out this place for hardware. All stainless and very reasonable. Sign up for their emails and wait for a special offer, they have them all the time.

http://www.marinepartdepot.com/dring.html
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby Chinookered » Tue May 13, 2014 10:14 am

Woodbutcher wrote:Check out this place for hardware. All stainless and very reasonable. Sign up for their emails and wait for a special offer, they have them all the time.

http://www.marinepartdepot.com/dring.html


Wow, those are some great prices. I will definitely sign up for their offers. Good to know!
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby dogscats » Thu May 22, 2014 10:45 pm

It's has the look of the 1958 Scotty Tear Drop Image
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Re: The Unorthodox Wood Duck

Postby backstrap bandit » Sat Jan 10, 2015 7:21 am

You could make one of the lower doors lock with barrel locks one into bottom of tear and extend the countertop out to go flush with door and use barrel lock into underside of it that makes it a fixed door at that point then the other door could lock to it with a slam type latch then the top hatch would extend down a bit to cover the top of both bottom doors sealing that and also holds both bottom doors shut also it is a doable idea thumbs up and good luck
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