Bill and Jim, attached (fot won't get them of course) are two photos of
a trailer someone sent me of a trailer they saw that was modified with
a flat door type rear end. Personally I don't like the looks. Seems to
ruin the sleek lines of an airstream trailer. But that is one way of doing
it.
I managed to find a used "rib" from an airstream the same as ours.
The plan is to remove the back portion of the shell, add the new rib into
that section and create a water tight junction at that point while
pivoting the shell at the very top. Have lots of thoughts on how to do
that as well. All in all I really think the clam shell approach is actually
the easier of the two methods and less costly to boot. Fewer materials
involved and a lot less fabrication I would think.
I will likely use the mechanicals from a vehicle wheel chair lift (getting
one from a friend real cheap!) to raise and lower the hatch. Although
the hatch doesn't weigh all that much (see picture of factory worker
lifting up the tail section) I like the potential added stability of using a
powered hydraulic unit.
Like I said we've been thinking about how to do this for well over a
year now and all the details are coming together nicely. Should be
able to start the actual conversion a little later this summer (of course
at that time it will be a 100 degrees here in Arkansas and I'll be working
inside the aluminum shell....!)
The trailer is now gutted, we'll be using it as a moving trailer to move all
of our shop and then the conversion will commence.
All in all we're both looking forward to the project.
Brad
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