Building the Galley Hatch

    In this post, I'll be going through the process of building the galley hatch.  I'll start by shaping and fitting the parts for the hatch frame and end with the application of a sub-skin similar to the process explained in the last post for closing up the roof.  The hatch is the last major exterior component that remains to be built before I can start the process of finishing it off with aluminum.  You may remember that the interior of the sleeping cabin is a combination of sapele and maple.  I have decided to go with white oak and sapele in the galley.  In keeping with this scheme, the hatch frame will be made of sapele and the skin of 1/4" oak plywood.
    If you have read the post about making the camper sides or the one about the building the trims, then you are familiar with the process of making parts from a master template.  The same process and the same template were used to shape the curved rails for the hatch frame.  Next the ends were cut so that they butt into the spar running across the top of the galley opening, sit on the galley floor, and follow the curve of the side wall.   Satisfied with the fit, I marked them for the placement of the cross braces, and screwed them together without glue so I could check the fit and work out the size of the skin before making anything irreversible.

On the left are the hatch side rails, on the right the cross braces, and in the middle are the oak dowels that will be used to make pegs for the joinery and plugs for the screw holes.

A marking stick helps to figure out the spacing of the cross pieces.

Once the spacing is marked on one, the two sides are matched up and the marks transferred. The marks on the broad side of the pieces indicate the placement of the screws and pegs. 

Once it is screwed together, I stuck it in the opening to check the fit... pretty good.

Here you can see the frame butting against the hinge spar at the edge of the roof.

     Now that I know that everything is copacetic, it's time to take it all apart, but there are a couple of things I need to do first.  I need pegs, plugs, and holes to put them in.  You always want to do everything you can before you get the glue out.

The plugs on the left have beveled ends so that they will easily tap into  the countersunk screw holes.  The pegs on the right have tapered ends and flats sanded on their sides to about 3/4" from the end that will be exposed.   The Flats are necessary to give the glue somewhere to go.   Without them, the hydraulic pressure created  by driving the peg in can split the wood apart along it's grain.

Here you can see the 2 1/2" peg and screw.  The blue tape flag on the drill is my depth gauge.

All the holes are drilled.

Here the frame is disassembled and ready for glue.

     In that last picture you can see how the joint works.  The screw driven into the bottom hole acts just as a clamp would to draw the joint together while the peg glued into the top hole prevents rotation of the cross piece while the glue sets and permanently bonds the two pieces.  Because the screw is a mechanical fastener, there is the possibility that it could eventually loosen with the seasonal movement of the wood and road vibration.  The glued peg is what will give this joint it's real strength.  Once that peg is driven, there is no separating those two pieces.  Looking at that picture I realize something else;  It bears a striking resemblance to something you might find in a set of IKEA instructions, and as such I feel a little conflicted about my seemingly excessive wordiness.  I should be able to explain this whole thing with a few line drawings of a grinning chubby dude wielding a drill and hammer.  I guess thats not going to happen, but I feel I should do something to honor the inherent IKEA-ness of this particular bit of joinery.  I hereby dub this joint, the SCROOPEG joint.

I removed one side of the frame, applied glue to both sides of all 5 joints, and using the screw heads to register the parts, pulled it all together by driving the screws.

I squeezed the top of each joint with a clamp, painted up the inside of the hole with glue, and drove in the peg until it bottomed out.

All of the holes are pegged or plugged.

Using a piece of plastic laminate to protect the wood, the plugs and pegs are cut off close to flush.  I'll grind them flush with a sander.

     Now that the hatch frame is assembled, it's time to work with the skin.  First, I cut my sheet of 1/4" oak plywood a couple of inches longer than what I will need.  I'm going to have to rabbet the edge that will receive the hinge (make it thinner) so that it will be flush to the masonite sub-skin on the roof.  The extra length will give me a second chance if I screw it up.  

The top edge is made flush and screwed down.  Then each cross member gets a screw in the center and at each end.  You can see the rabbeted edge where the hinge will be attached.

At this point, the hatch is put back into the opening and the bottom is marked where it will be cut.

Here you can see the line drawn across the bottom where that extra length will be cut off.  

The pilot holes have been made for the remaining screws about every 3" along the frame sides and cross braces.

     The next step is to remove the skin and cut it to length.   I had Kat help me with the glue up because a helper is always good when you are racing against the glue.  We got the glue, a big pile of screws and some clamps all ready to go and we were ready.

So this is sort of a nutty angle, but what you are looking at is the bottom end of the skin being held away from the frame while the top edge is being aligned and fastened.  Notice the glue spread on both surfaces to be bonded.

Fastening down the top edge.

Because the first row of screws needs to be 1" back from the edge to be out of the way of the hinge, the leading edge needs to be clamped tight to insure a sound bond that conforms to the curve of the frame.

All glued.  When the glue has dried I will replace the screws with staples. this will make it easier to get a nice smooth finished surface.

    

   

Her's what the inside of the finished hatch looks like.

It's a hatchback.

   

Teardroppy.

     Now I have to put a finish on it.... ugh.  Once that dreaded task is done, it will be time to do some aluminum work, hopefully.  I  sent a quote request to a local metal shop for all the aluminum parts I'll need to skin the exterior.  Based on their website, I thought it was a good prospect, but I haven't heard back.  They may be a strictly wholesale company.  At this point, I don't know where I'm getting my metal.  I'll figure something out.
     In the last post I introduced "Kinsey's Korner".  This is the feature of the blog that will be authored by my younger daughter Kinsey as she shares her thoughts about our travels.  This time we will have the first installment of Zoe's portion of the blog.  With that, I give you... Well, Zoe hasn't yet settled on a satisfactory title for her segment, so for now we're going with this:

Zoe Says...

This SummerI'm going on a cross country trip.I am looking forward to seeing all of the different states, cultures,and wildlife.  My one worry is that we are going to be riding in dad's truck, and so far he's done an extremely impressive job of keeping it clean.  Dad is planning on having two children living in that vehicle for seven weeks... I wonder what it will look like at the end of the Summer?

                       It's good to know that Zoe and I share some of the same concerns.