Turning a caravan into a trailer and a transit into a crane

	This is what it looked like when it arrived. Pretty fucked frankly. The hitch head was so seized that my mate had to unbolt his tow hitch and leave it!!! He'd hit it so hard with a hammer, the tongue has expanded and wouldn't fit in it's hole any more. A little filing and out it came.
	The joys of a saturday morning spent with a hammer. There are a few bits of rust, and not a lot of give in the suspension, but it'll be fine. Time to reattach some woodwork.
	Have boxed in the wheel arches to roughly the angle of the hovercraft sides, there's a bit of doubt about how well it will fit - may have to lift the hover a few inches to make some room. Although a big trailer, the hover is 6 inches wider, and will hang off the back by about 15 inches. May be dodgy.
	It's not an easel. Pretty strong really, kicked it and hit it with a big hammer a few times, will take the hover. Next stage will be to box off the front, and build a ramp so i can fly on and off, for now i'll just have to find 5 helpers every time
	After actually putting it on the trailer, it's obvious that it's never going to fly on. It's either rollers or a bigger trailer, time will tell. Nose weight is about 3kg negative, easily made up with my tools. Pray for me and other road users
	It fits, just. 4 inches more in any direction and the garage wouldn't be big enough. It seems easier to put it in now though, flying it in is interesting. Off for hovering in 2 days (on the 21/6/03) - there'll be a new page with impact photos soon.
	It's all very well having a 14' hovercraft, th'only problem is you need a support crew of about 7 to lift it on and off. Then you have to keep them occupied. So, with the arrival of a transit van on the scene a plan emerged. Firstly executed in wood, to get lengths, these two bits of wood nailed together almost supported my weight, proving the design in principle. The hanging battery is there to keep tension.
	I assume that brown paper tape is the engineers jig of choice?
	Well, here it is, the A welded, hinged and attached. We haven't got the full strength tie for it yet, so I'm using old climbing rope, which stretches alarmingly.
	'Excuse me, could I borrow your quad please' At 120kg the quad is about half the weight of the hover, so a good test of it (with the climbing rope), when we tried adding our weight to the system, the rope stretched more and we stopped. We will use a strong ratchet strap attached with seat belt ironmongery for the real one. We also have a small winch which will hoist the A frame up in a very stylish fashion. Assembly/dissembly should be possible in less than five minutes by one man.
	I like the seatbelt attachment, I am under the impression that it is strong enough, and the quick release makes it all easier. As long as it's not too quick. It isn't in any way attached to the other seatbelts.
	A few adjustments, and a claimed first ascent.
	Yeah, f**k me it works, it's hovering without the engine!!! Now it's time for hammerite.

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Turning a caravan into a trailer and a transit into a crane

[ Home] [ UK MogStock 2009 - 29-31 May ] [ Playing with and improving the mog ] [ Restoring a '61 Unimog ]