Sad tidings on the galley hatch. But before we go there, let’s take a look at some more of the build steps for the hatch. One thing I wanted to share was this fantastic resource from a web page and great resource called Teardrops and Tiny Trailers. It helps take a lot of guessing out of getting gas struts to work. The strut design for the Wyoming Woody (from which the Bettie Mobile borrows from) used a different strut design – shorter struts anchored higher up in the frame – which we could never get to work. The TNTT design required us getting longer struts, but worked great. You saw that in a previous post.
So the next steps were to get the interior skins on and start doing some wiring and whatnot.
Once the glue dried and everything was trimmed to size, I wanted to give the hatch another dry fit to to the camper. This was a good idea since now the roof was on the camper, so everything would be much closer to how the hatch would finally fit.
And that’s when things took a turn for the worse. The hatch contours just didn’t align with the contours of the camper. This is critical for ensuring that there is a water-tight seal back there.
What a disappointment! It didn’t make me feel like documenting the moment, apparently.
There could be a bunch of reasons why things didn’t fit. The interior skins had a really tight radius to fit, and that might have put enough pressure on the ribs to change the curve. When I did the initial dry fit, many of the components of the roof were not glued in yet, and so dimensions may have shifted. Mostly, the hatch is designed with a compound curve – which means that even 1/8″ of variance in one place can mean a full inch of variance somewhere else. Things just didn’t line up.
The timing of the Great Galley Hatch Disaster came just as it was time for us to leave town for a while. A little distance both in time and space is probably a good thing right now. In a couple of weeks, we’ll be back at the camper build and have a plan for moving forward.
Dear K & M, Well darn, but I figure you are not giving up. No words of advice from me. I look forward to a succesful completion and wish you the best, to keep on keeping on.
Aloha,Jeff B
You have done such an amazing job that I have all the confidence that this to will get correctly. What a disappointment though. Getting away is a good idea. Miss you and love you
Mind *BLOWN*
These words you write are not being comprehended! Yes, I took physics and Algebra in 1983-84 (oh so very long ago and never used since) but this is beyond! You guys amaze me!!
I can’t wait to see the next steps, with hatch problem solved, in full color! Keep on keeping on! and thanks for sharing the project status.