Before putting the skin on the galley hatch, I am working through the hydraulic assist lifters. There are a lot of different manufacturers, lengths and load ratings for these lifts. Having designed the galley cabinets without planning for the lift locations, I left myself with limited working space and cut down my options significantly.
Leaving the skin off the galley hatch allows me the opportunity to see how things will be fitting up and try different scenarios visually before screwing everything down. I started of by finding a supplier of hydraulic strut supports. Unless you know exactly what you need, do not go to an auto parts store. All they ask is what year and make car do you have. I went to a truck topper retailer and installer. They had some knowledgeable people and a variety of brackets to choose from out of a catalog. They copied pages of the catalog for my use and I started figuring what I might need.
I first installed the hurricane hinge and rechecked to see if everything lined up like before. I taped a 1/8 inch piece of plywood under the hinge on the hatch side to be dimensional accurate when the exterior skin is installed. I will also be leaving the hinge ends long to work as a drip edge to prevent water from running back under the hinge into the galley.
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| Hurricane Hinge Temporally Installed |
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| Hurricane Hinge Top View |
Next, I placed masking tape on the sides where the lifters will be installed so I can markup different layouts based on dimensions from the catalog cuts. I propped the hatch open to an 80 inch height from the ground which is where I would like the hatch to be when lifters are fully extended.
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| Hatch Elevated to 80 Inches from Floor |
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| Profile of Hatch Open to Desired 80 Inch Height |
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| Assortment of Bracket to Choose From |
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| Selected Bracket for Inside Galley Wall |
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| Bracket to be Mounted on Hatch |
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| One of Many Pages of Lifter to Choose From |
I looked at compressed and extended lengths of lifters that would fall within my space limitations then I selected lengths that had the greatest variation of load ranges, ie: 12.20" compressed, 19.69" extended have capacities ranging from 20 lbs to 180 lbs. Calculating the support weight of the hatch is difficult without knowing the exact location of the brackets. I am expecting the bracket on the hatch to be approximately 12 inches away from the hinge and the overall length of the hatch is 42 inches. The overall weight of my hatch without the skin and latch weighs 24 lbs, so I figure the completed weight of the hatch is 30 lbs. With a fulcrum calculator, I figure the hydraulic props will be supporting a total load of approximately 75 lbs based on installing the hatch bracket 12 inch from the hinge.
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| 14 Inches is the Distance I have to Work with for Compressed Lifter (Driver Side) |
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| Bracket Layout Passenger Side |
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| Bracket Layout Driver Side |
I made a bracket mock-up and taped it to the hatch framing on both sides to assure I did not have conflicts with the cabinets when the hatch was closed. Things are a bit tight on the passenger side, but I do have some room for adjustment.
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| Bracket Mock-up for Hatch Assembly to Check Clearance with Cabinet |
In this layout, I have 11.75 inches from center of wall bracket to center of hatch bracket. This only gave me 76 inches of clearance for head room at the back of the galley where I was looking for 80 inches. I have enough play at either end of the bracket mounting locations where I can go with a little longer lifter assembly to get closer to 80 inches of headroom, so I will go with the 12.2 inch compressed x 19.69 inch extended lifter.
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| Measurement Center Pin to Center Pin |
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| Placed Ruler in Open Position to Verify Angle (Passenger Side) |
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| Placed Ruler in Open Position to Verify Angle (Driver Side) |
I order the brackets and lifters which will take approximately 1 week to arrive. I order 60 lb lifters figuring this should be enough to support the hatch. The place where I purchased the lifters and brackets said they would exchange the lifters at no cost if I need a different load capacity, so I can always decrease or increase lifter capacity if needed.
So while I am waiting on the hatch lifters to arrive, I completed the insulation on the trailer everywhere except the galley hatch. I installed 1.5 inches of rigid board insulation everywhere. In the curved areas between the ribs, I found some 3/4 inch thick rigid board insulation which easily conformed to the curved areas. I used 3M Spray Adhesive 77 to hold the foam in place, then placed a second layer in the curve to complete the build-up. The 1-1/2 inch rigid board insulation that I used in the flat areas would never make the curve without breaking or Kerf cutting the foam.
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| Gap Filling the Trailer Insulation |
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| Soaking the Front Exterior Curve Piece for Installation |
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| Battery Box Curved Lid - Both Sides Complete |
I'm getting close to installing the aluminum. Over the upcoming week, I will continue to install the exterior skin on the front, top and rear. Once the lifters arrive and I can verify my layout works, I will also move onto placing the skin on the interior and exterior of the hatch.
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