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Comment: Another view of the hinge and the ribbed weather stripping to seal out water. All of the aluminum trim on trailer was installed twice. First to fit then removed and the holes and underside of moulding filled with Silicon sealer before re-installed. Excess sealer is easily cleaned off after it sets.
With hatch clamped in position 1/8 hardboard was glued and tacked with a brad nailer. At the bottom edge it was screwed to the stringer. After skinning with aluminum the top side will have the hinge mounted on top.

Alright!!! It's starting to look like a real teardrop, not much unlike the one my father bought in the late 1940's. It also served as an extra bedroom which was mine for a few years which was more fun than sleeping in the house. California weather is made for year round teardroping.

January 18th 2004 - Installed these old style hatch props and they have only 9 travel. Mounting was critical as they had zero clearance (inset) when closed.

A piece of poplar was glued and screwed onto the outside rib to have something solid to mount the prop. After fitting it was taken apart to insulate & skin the inside of the hatch.

Details of the waterproof zero/offset hurricane galley hinge. The seal is 7/16 wide extreme weather seal with a hollow core. The aluminum moulding around the galley is the same as the side door jambs and called Counter top edge.
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Be sure to have your hurricane hinge before you finish cut your profile. It's no fun to have to do it again after the walls are up.

The cut-out for the windows were done with router and template. Aluminum was done at the same time. Trim where the sides meet the roof is called Regular edge moulding and bends easily. Was purchased at a local RV repair shop and comes in 16' lengths. It can also be ordered from: http://www.teardroptrailers.net/index.html

December 28th 2003 - The doors were a snap. They were cut out with the router at the same time as the profile and just needed a little cleaning up before installing aluminum and hardware. T-moulding, hinge and window hold skin in place. Also radio antenna was mounted. All the aluminum skin just floats with no adhesive needed.

As shown here the profile was given a 16 flat area to allow for the vent before the ribs were installed. Of course if no vent is used this is unnecessary.

On the body side of the piano hinge a 1/8 aluminum spacer (arrow) was installed to space the door out and make room for the door seal. J-moulding was used for a drip rail and also helps hold the aluminum skin tight.
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