Tue Aug 21, 2001

10 hours

I decided not to use the aluminum for the landing skids... I know I wasted the better part of yesterday putting them on.  I found some HDPE at a plastic shop and they were able to sell me 1" strips x 10' at 1/4" for only $4.85 a strip.  They wear better than steel.  I will countersink the screws every six inches as recommended by the plastic company.

Pictured top right - I removed the aluminum skids and drilled out all the holes to 1/4".  I cut 1/4" dowels to 1.5" lengths.  I mixed some epoxy and dumped all the cut dowels into it and mixed till they were all coated.  I then hammered with a rubber mallet a dowel into each hole.

Pictured 2nd right - A picture of the HDPE 1" x 10' x 1/4" strips.

Pictured 3rd right - A side view of the strips.

Pictured 4th right - Here is the craft after I sealed the skids and 1/8" base ply skid plates with epoxy.  The clamps are holding some splinters in the wood.  Very small they were there before I bent it.

Tue Aug 21, 2001

Cont...

Pictured top right -  Here is a test thrust idler tensioner.  I wanted to practice with the angle grinder.  Note the tongue I bent to hold the tensioner bolt.  I am planning to weld a nut onto it instead of tapping it.

Pictured 2nd right - I had to cut one side off.

Pictured 3rd right - I drilled a 5/16" hole into the tongue.  On the real one I will weld a nut to it here.

Pictured 4th right - A view of the HDPE with a screw countersunk.

Pictured 5th right - I was practicing with the drill press to find the right depth for countersinking.

Tue Aug 21, 2001

Cont...

Pictured top right -  I used some light weight Poly insta fill to fille the inside of the thrust duct.  I will keep filling and sanding till I get a nice surface.  I will then fiberglass over it.   Thrust ducts are fun...really.

Pictured 2nd right -Another view of my almighty 54" thrust duct....The stock on is 42".

Pictured 3rd right -Here is one of the production thrust idlers.  I ran out of 5" cutting disks so I will have to make the other one tomorrow.

Pictured 4th right - Here is how the idler pulleys sit in the tensioner.   Note I am missing a bolt on the right side of the pulley.

Pictured 5th right - My old aluminum landing skids... the poor fellows never saw any action.  I don't know what I will se these for now... I don't want to throw them out as there is $50 worth of metal sitting here.  Anyone need some ready made 13P landing skid aluminum cheap <grin>

Wed Aug 22, 2001

8 hours

Today I fiberglassed the outer attach strips to the hull bottom, sanded and filled the inner thrust duct lip, cut four thrust idler tensioners, and fitted one air splitter.

Pictured top right - Shows the side of the hull after I fiberglassed 6" 6oz glass strips down the entire length.

Pictured 2nd right - The other side of the hull after I fiberglassed it.

Pictured 3rd right - A picture showing the back corner after I fiberglassed it.

Pictured 4th right - Shows the back after it was fiberglassed.  I used 4" wide 6oz cloth.

Pictured 5th right - I am running a 54" prop and because of this I have a 12" pulley on the prop shaft.  I am going to split the idlers into two pieces and use two tensioners per side so I can adjust the angle of each pulley.    I will position the center idler tensioners as shown.  Note the actual tensioners will be higher up to accomodate the radius of the pulley.  The pulleys will be angled so the edge closest to the engine will be closest to the center tensioner.

Thu Aug 23, 2001

10 hours

Today I fit the remaining lift duct air splitter, epoxied both into place, and filleted.  I also fiberglassed over the rear inner tack strip with 6oz cloth, removed the overflowed epoxy from the inner hull seam, and welded the 4 thrust idlers together.  Wayne did the welding.  He welded a nut onto each end of the idlers and a 1" metal support to the top.

Pictured top right - Fitting the final air splitter.  I used the first one as a template.

Pictured 2nd right - Fiberglassed the inner rear tack strip with 6oz cloth.  Dave Schneider recommended this to me after he saw the old UH 13P loose it.

Pictured 3rd right - Air splitters epoxied into place.

Pictured 4th right - I had a large amount of epoxy over spill from when I joined the two layers of foam for the hull.  I removed with an electrice sander and 60 grit sandpaper.  I filled the remaining divots with lightweight filler.  I will fiberglass over this seam with a 4 oz cloth.

Pictured 5th right - I filleted the outside jointsides on the airsplitter with a mixture of epoxy and micro fibers.

Fri Aug 24, 2001

2 hours

Today I dogged it... I was in a bad mood so I decided to do something mindless and built a rolling workbench.  Later in the day when I was happier I did some fiberglassing around the lift duct.

Pictured top right -A heavy duty rollable work cart.  I was in a bad mood so I built something that didn't matter if I hit it to hard with a hammer.  Funny thing is I didn't get to use a hammer on it.  It is all screwed together with 3" deck screws.

Pictured 2nd right - Here are the 4 thrust idler tensioners.  Thanks to Wayne K for all the welding.

Pictured 3rd right - I fiberglassed the air splitters into place on both sides and front and back.  I also fiberglassed the lift fan mounts at the very back.  I used the remaining epoxy to seal the inside of the duct wall.

Pictured 4th right - I decided against fiberglassing this seam and just coated it with epoxy.

Sat Aug 25, 2001

2 hours

How come I always cut myself when I am not wearing gloves?

Anyhow I didn't do too much today.  I fitted the Plastic Steel UHMW (UMHW?) onto the skids.  I countersunk the #8 x 1" screws 6" apart (as per manufacturers recommendation). I also took the measurements for the skirt.  I am thinking I will do the skirt tomorrow.  The bottom is now complete and I want to get the skirt fitted and attached to the craft while it is upside down.  I will completly attach it tomorrow.  When I am ready to paint the craft I will remove the skirt from the outer attach strips.

Pictured top right - Shows how I attached the strips at the front.

Pictured 2nd right - Here are the strips completely attached. After installing the skids I removed them and filled the holes with epoxy using a tiny drill bit.  I then reattached the skids so the epoxy could help lock the screws in place.

Sun Aug 26, 2001

9 hours (2 men)

Today my Dad and I built the skirt.  What a job.  Not hard until you need to glue the pieces together.  This is when it got stressfull.  We both lived through it. HH-66 was used for all skirt bonding.

Pictured top right -First we cut the material in half.  UH shipped me two pieces of material.  One for the skirt rear and 1 for the sides.  The material was 61.5 wide so I cut the material for the sides in half to 30.75".  On sheet one of the plans it calls for an extra 3 inches of material to be added for the rear.  I cut the rear piece to 33.75" wide.

Pictured 2nd right -  Here are the 3 rolls for the skirt.  Note the material for the rear skirt is in the forefront.

Pictured 3rd right - I sacrificed the plans and cut the skirt template out right on the plan.  This is not the smartest way to do this but it was the fastest.  Both skirt outlines are full size on one sheet.  They overlap each other.  I cut the rear out first and then traced over the edges with a sharpie on a piece of cardboard.  I then cut the outline out with a razor edge cutter (name eluding me now).  Once I was sure the template was good I cut the plan sheet down to the front skirt outline.  I then repeated the steps above to make the cardboard template for the fron skrt join.

Pictured 4th right - Here is the cardboard template before my Dad cut it out freehand. Great job Dad!

Pictured 5th right - We unrolled a front skirt strip and cut a corner using the rear template.  One side of the vinyl is smoother than the other.  This is the one that has more coating and it should be on the outside of the skirt.  Use your noodle to make sure you correctly orient all your skirt material and templates so this smoother glossy side will be the outside of the skirt.

Pictured 6th right - Skirt cut with Olfa knife.... I knew I would remember...

Sun Aug 26, 2001

Cont...

Pictured top right  - This is what the joint looks like... Another great cut Dad!

Pictured 2nd right - Now measure the skirt on the outside (longest) and cut the front template out on the other end.  Make sure templates are oriented correctly.  When you measure the inside of the skirt the length will most likely be longer.  This is the way Bob W does it on the video.  He says the extra will be bunched up evenly on the inner attach strip.  Don't try and tilt the templates to make it match as this will throw out the curve and the distance between the tack strips.  Watch the General Hovercraft construction video over and over to see this. 

Pictured 3rd right - Cutting another corner...

Sun Aug 26, 2001

Cont...

Pictured top right - another corner..

Pictured 2nd right - and another one..

Pictured 3rd right - A completed skirt side.

Pictured 4th right - Starting the rear skirt.

Pictured 5th right - The rear skirt complete... make sure you pay attention and cut all the pieces so the shinier smoother piece becomes the outside of the skirt.  This info was gleamed from the UH video.

Pictured to right - Getting the joints ready for glueing.  Use the templates to mark a 1" wide line.  I used a black sharpie so its hard to see the mark.  We used a 100 grit sandpaper to rough the joint up.

Pictured 2nd right -  We laid the pieces to be glued on top of each other just like Bob did in the video.  It was very hard getting the two pieces of skirt to line up at each end.  The first join was bad out about 1/2".  The second join same.  The third join, skirt front,  was only out by 1/4".  I marked the lines the same way Bob did in the video to line the skirt up.  One perpindicular line in the middle of the skirt and one matching on the bottom.  We applied one inch of glue to each future seam and waited for about 2 minutes for it to set up.  Then just like in the video we folded the joint over and did the flat part of the joint first.  Then I joined the smaller curve near the inner edge.  The skirt material must be forced to make the joint.  Then I took the skirt over my knee and finished the joint just like Bob did in the video.  The material near this outer edge really needs to be forced.  I am not happy with the first joint as it bunched up a fair amount on this outer curved part.  The joint was too bad until I realized I had it inside out.  Not a big deal just pushed the joint to the otherside.... yuck now you can see where the material bunched.  The important thing though is that all my joints are smooth around the contact line and this is where it counts the most.  Bob said its normal for the material to bunch at other places and that it is ok as long as the contact line is smooth.  If I made another skirt it would be less stressfull now as I know how to make the bend.  By the last one, the front, I was getting pretty good at it. 

Pictured 3rd right - I used a fold chair with a rounded seat back to hold the seam while I put pressure on the joint.  I worked the seam over the chair back edge.  One thing to note about the HH-66 is that it seams to dry quickly and is not sticky to the touch after 1 minute.  This is normal.  Don't worry when you press the two pieces together they will bond well.

Pictured 4th right - Here is the completed skirt...

Pictured top right - Here I am placing the skirt onto the craft to check the sizing.  Note the shiny smoother side is on the outside of the skirt.

Pictured 2nd right - Starting to position the skirt.  All joints are lining up well.

Pictured 3rd right - a view from the rear..

Pictured 4th right - another view from the rear.  I used some clamps to hold the skirt into position in the corners and middle of inner tack strip.

Pictured 5th right -A close up of the crappiest seam... I guess its not too bad.  I can be pretty fussy...

Pictured 6th right -A close up view of the nose seam from the rear.