Today we'll cover the cosmetic portion of the project. Installation of the hatch was an important part of my approach to increased water capacity but for many, a hatch installation could be a project without any relationship to a plumbing project.
Some people have installed relatively large hatches although that can be a challenge because of the curves of the trailer. I elected to install a Tempress 1115 Cam Hatch that I got from Amazon. The outside dimension is a nominal 11 x 15 inches - the inside dimension is approximately 7 x 11 inches. It's big enough for my intended use. The desired location required removing the convenience outlet to be re-positioned.
The hatch comes with a template and basic instructions - most of which I ignored, (its a gender thing) although I did use the template to drill pilot holes for the corners.
After drilling the 1/8" pilot holes, I followed up with a 1" forstner bit for the corner radius, taped the layout of the straight edges, and then fired up the trim router with a straight bit to freehand the cutout. The router allowed me to cut through the insulation without getting into the "rat fur" on the inside of the wall.
Scissors work much better for cutting the rat fur. I didn't cut the complete hole in one pass because there was an electrical wire near the right edge that needed to be moved out of the way before finishing the cutout. Don't ask how I knew that.*
The next move was to tape the flange in place so that the best location for the convenience outlet could be determined. The piece that had been cut out included the original mount for the convenience outlet and made a great pattern for the new cutout.
The flange was bedded in 3M5200 marine sealant and attached with stainless machine screws. Inside, you can see the subject of next post including relocation of the fresh water tank.
All done except for the stress test with a garden hose.
 |
| * What's that doing there? |
No comments:
Post a Comment