This thing is About to Hatch

A week has gone by without an update, and things are coming together. I've finished the hatch frame and skinned the outside, and we've even tested a paint selection on the outer skin today. Tara did some sanding, and I coated the entire roof with CPES (remember that Rot Doctor stuff), which will provide superior water resilience underneath the paint. Let's get to the photos for a bit.

The completed hatch door frame



In the bottom left and right corners in the photo above, you see some extra framing for the taillights that I have on hand. I'll install those once the hatch is done.

The outer skin installed on the hatch

The outer skin of the hatch, like the rest of the roof, is made of 5.2mm red oak plywood. The bend here went smoothly with my batch of clamps and 2x4s placed horizontally.

So, this is what it's going to look like when it's attached

We've revisited the interior again while other stuff was drying or setting up, and I'd hung the two cabinet doors.

Cabinet doors installed

I also had a number of parts come in last week, including door handles and latches for the two side doors and the hatch door and the "hurricane" hinge for the hatch door. All the aforementioned were from Li'l Bear (http://www.lilbear.teardrops.net/index.html), an excellent source for teardrop parts and a great place to deal with. Below, the hatch is temporarily installed with the hurricane hinge.

Hatch installed temporarily with the "hurricane" hinge

The hinge worked flawlessly. There were several iterations of installing and removing in order to trim the bottom edge of the hatch for clearance for weatherstripping. The hinge itself is a marvel of design that brings the pivot point up above the surface of the wood, forcing water to run off along the sides of the roof instead of into the hinge area. I recommend it.

The final photo below for this post is one of the newly ordered fenders mocked up. These will be somewhat temporary, as I'd like to get larger and wider wheels and tires for trailer when I've finally recovered from buying everything else for this thing.

There's even more that's been completed, but I don't have photos yet, so that'll be next time. Like I'd said earlier, we've tested some paint for aesthetics, so that'll be part of the next update.

[g]