As i mentioned in the previous page i’ve decided to start building a 3/4 length seat and when i work out the final position of the motor i will add the other 1/4, that way i will now have the seat , steering and any other frontal associated weight in the craft for when i work out the CG.
In this picture you can see I’ve started the basic layout of the seat and dash area, i’m not following the book on this area either mainly because i want to customise the area that i will be sitting in to suit my needs :-).
Although i should be following the plans to the letter i will be trying my hardest to still keep the weight down as much as possible but make it to my liking. Although in saying that, from the balance test i tried the other day a fraction more weight in the front will mean the motor can be mounted slightly further back, i’m not talking about adding 4 tonne to the front or anything but a slight extra weight i can counteract when i balance the craft when putting the motor in. Does it sound like I’m trying to justify myself to all those experienced hovercrafters out there that say WATCH HOW MUCH WEIGHT U ADD ? ummm yeah your probably right, ….i think i am hehehe.
Here’s a view with the dash panels starting to take some shape. My intentions (although may change several times in the next few days) is to mount my steering shaft through that rectangular 6 mm ply section sitting just below the middle of the dash panel.
I am trying to make it so that the dash will be removable just so in the future its easier to mount gauges, fix/adjust steering etc etc.
On both sides of the seat front just before the floor starts to raise up i’m adding drain plugs, just glued them in for now with gorilla glue and will Q cell and fibre glass them later.
.
April 20th 2005 –
Just thought i’d let you know that production seems to have slowed dramatically in the last 2 weeks, i seem to be doing more staring and thinking than actual building, but i will update with more pictures and info when i have something worth while taking a photo of. I’ve lost momentum and i seem to be doing a bit of steering here and a bit of fan frame stuff there , then back to steering then fibre glassing then back to steering and at the end of the night when i look back at it i think hhmmm what the hell have i achieved tonight hehe but I’m sure it will start falling back into place again soon
