550 / 560 Galley Hatch Lift?

I also love the simplicity of the hatch prop. No maintenance.

 

OK ... sorry for the delayed "evaluation". we've been out a couple of times now with the new hatch set-up and I must say I'm truly pleased. Note that we have not removed the original prop as I agree with many coments here that it is a beautiflly simple and effective design. But the struts have relieved my wife of the strain of lifting the heavy hatch perfectly. If anything, they are a tad too strong, meaning when the lock handle is turned the hatch opens all by itself - not a bad thing but if you forget to lock the handle and it wiggles loose from the bumpy roads, the hatch will open by itself as you travel down the highway ... and, you might not even know its ope because you can't really see it in the rear view mirror of the TV. Otherwise, we are extremely pleased with the outcome. I say offer it as an option, but keep the standard prop regardless.

 

having just read Cary's list of appearance enhancements available for 2018, I'm curious if there's been any movement on offering struts as an option. Every car I've owned for the last 35 years has had them, and yep, a few of them have gotten weak and needed to be replaced. But I've never had to use a stick to hold up a hatch.

I'm pretty strong but I just can't figure out how to hold something in one hand and open/close the galley hatch, and there have been *many* times I've wanted to do this - i.e. at a rest area with lunch in one hand and no place to put it but on the usually dirty pavement while I use two hands to close the hatch.

While I'm sure I can follow Faux's lead and figure it out for myself, it would be nice to have our resident Camp-Inn engineers to do it for me.

Robert Dickson
550 #645, 43k miles, 170 nights
(and itching to hit the road)

 

I have owned a Little Guy for ten years which had the gas struts. They worked perfect every time even when the lid had snow on it. A good strut should last for ten years before you need to replace them. Both of my Ford Bronco II's had them and needed to be replaced. It is no big deal replacing them. It is certainly cheaper and easier than replacing tires and no one expects tires to last forever.

I may add them to my 560 but want to use it a few times first. The windscreen question is my only concern.

 

I like and admire the current elegant setup. However, during the winter I had trouble with a tendon in my right shoulder and many small tasks, including lifting the hatch, became impossible due to the extreme pain. Finally after three months I got lucky and the tendon broke with a loud snap, and I had the use of my arm again. For situations such as those, I think it could be very helpful if the struts could be sold as a kit for the owner to install easily. They could be provided with a template so that we could be certain the holes would be properly placed. I would not have the confidence that I could do the job neatly if there were no pattern for a guide.

 

I have been considering adding struts to make it a little easier to open. It's not that it's hard, it would be nice if it were easier. I would not rely on them to keep the hatch open, just assist in the opening.

 

How did you determine placement location?

 

Hi Jay and Valerie - positioning was a bit of trial and error frankly. But, I'm very happy with where I landed on it ... you can see placement in the photos - I've not moved them from there. With the size and strength of the ones I installed, the galley hatch "pops" open to about 1/3 open and assists in easily opening full-open from there. Makes it great for one-handed when needed for quick snack breaks on the road. In camp, once full-open it stays, but we choose to "lock" it in place with Cary's uniquely original prop. We're really glad we did it! Good luck & great camping!

 

Hello there, I was wondering if you could clarify the position for the strut mounts. From what it looks like , the mount on the actual hatch is approx 3.75 in (center post) and the mount on the rear wall is 5 in (center again)? Just had to check with you before proceeding. Thank you.

 

Congratulations! I have learned one thing about gas struts, if they aren't used their life is shortened. My Porsche 911 has them for the front 'trunk'. I bought it used and I noticed the guy washing the car had a piece of wood used to prop it open. He said he has that for the 911's because so many people never use the trunk, so the struts are dead. Talked to the services guy, he said the same thing. Spend the $$ to update them, but if I wasn't going to use it often, it would be a waste of money. I kept my $$. Will be interesting to get a long term report from you. Keeping the wood pole might be a good idea!

 

Just wanted to chime in on this subject .. I installed 45 lb gas struts which is just the right amount of assist. Originally installed the 80 lb that was suggested in this thread .. too much torque. Love the struts .. and the wooden support. I can open and close with one hand .. yay

 

Yes I just added the struts over the weekend. Followed Dan’s (FauxPa) great instructions. The 80lb struts are too strong in my opinion, especially from my wheelchair but I know they will eventually ease up a bit and wind up to be just right. If I’d had to do it all over I would have used 60lb most likely. All that’s left to do is attach a pull strap and I will be all set. I did leave the original wooden prop, both for beauty, functionality and safety. ( I’m sure your 45lb struts feel perfect from the get go, if anyone else does this it will just be a matter of preference. )

 

Hey Rob, glad you got your trailer. It was great chatting with you on my YT channel. I'm sure you are going to love the CI. It's a fantastic trailer.

 

Yes, I certainly appreciated that. Look for an intro to my new to me CI 560 Ultra on my YouTube channel “RollingRob” no spaces. From Houston TX, drove to pick up my rig in GA, camped out at Red Mtn St Pk, drove from GA to the CI mothership in WI, camped out 2 nites there while Cary, Craig, and the entire absolutely wonderful CI family and staff gracious hosted me for 2 days while my rig got its physical, some updates and some options I requested plus I bought several accessories. What a blast meeting and spending time with the entire team! I am so grateful for their warmth and generosity with their valuable time especially since I only was able to give them a couple of weeks notice. This event is one I will never forget. After leaving about closing time the second day, I drove to Illinois’s and found a great rest stop for the night and camped in. The next day drove from IL to Texarkana Tx and again found a great rest stop for the night. Had it not been for a technical issue with my truck that I was well aware beforehand, I would have taken my time and camped out in the woods but I had to stay close to civilization and get back home where the special order part for my truck was waiting. Such a great trip, about 3000 mi in 6 days, camper pulled like a dream!

 

Rob, I’ve been following your posts, congrats on getting into a camper! I also very much appreciate you reflecting your experience via YT to others experiencing limited mobility. Can’t wait to see your 560 review/experience in some YT clips. Please do post when you upload.

 

Hey RR & HD-
what are the measurements you used for placement of the mounts? Faux' photos aren't hi enough res for me to make them out. And do the 45lb struts lift the hatch by themselves or require some pushing?

also, are either of y'all using the galley windscreens with the struts? I've got the screens and want to make sure the struts don't interfere.

thx

 

I found this gas strut calculator on the tnttt forum. I haven’t used it yet but it should eliminate a lot of the trial and error.
Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers • View topic - Hatch Gas Spring/Strut Calculator

 

SethB Thank you so much! I appreciate your kind words. You know it started out with me just sharing my photos or videos with some patients at a hospital I volunteer sometimes. But I would lose them or not be able to find them, so I just started my "RollingRob" YouTube channel, purely intended to help me organize and be able to find my videos and experiences, but then realized, it would just be easier to make it public and open to all to share. I'm there to share my experiences and encourage those newly injured patients in similar circumstances or just rehabbing. I'm an open book what you see is what you get and any questions are welcomed, anything if it will help someone reach out for every bit of life that is out there to be had. But his is not the proper forum for this so to those who have come across this unexpectedly I apologize, and everyone else who has reached out, I thank so very much. I will keep my posts related to my new exciting CI Ultra 560 learning tips and new experiences!

 

fernlane, I had the same issue although Dan (FauxPa) was very kind to answer a few of my questions as well in regards to his pics and instructions for the gas struts. I went with this, the mount on the actual hatch (from the second crossbar, is approx 3.75 in (center post) and the mount on the rear wall is 5 in (center post again). You could just mount the rear and see where the hatch mount lines up, and mark it, it will be very close to measurements. Now, don't do what I did, I screwed the rear mount bracket to the rear wall thinking it was surely at least an inch thick. I used Stainless steel #10 3/4 in screws by the way and almost went through the rear wall so mount sideways instead. Dan recommended screwing it sideways onto the wooden support. I would go that route if I had to do it again. Second, you mentioned galley wings. Guess where the mount for the hatch wound up to be? Yup, right where the middle snap is, I removed the snap. I just unsnapped it, screwed on the mount and will find a solution to the now unsnapped middle button. Although it stays put regardless and I never intended to remove them anyways unless for washing or something. I may just tie a string, or ribbon from wing to strut in its place, it's not going anywhere and does not interfere with unfolding or folding up the wing. Anyway, I'm sure someone will chime in with a great solution. I'm happy. I would bet the 45# strut will require just a couple of fingers strength to lift. I like Dvoisinet1615 suggestion for the calculator, looks like the tool will precisely tell us where they should be to work just not for the opening but for the closing, actually coming around the return stroke and pushing back out a bit about 10% to help to keep hatch closed. Too late for me, I may reposition when someone figures it out!