Date

What did I do today?

Hours

04-11-00

Cut a template from 1/8" Luan for the skirt corner seam shape.  This took about an hour to layout, cut and sand to shape.  I laid out and cut out the two long side sections of the skirt.

3.00

04-12-00

I laid out and cut the rear skirt section and cut the "Drain Hole" in it as well.

1.25

04-13-00

I laid out and cut the two rear quarter skirt and bow skirt pieces.  I also cut out the bow skirt vent ports.

3.25

04-15-00

I laid out and cut the forward quarter skirts and the forward outboard skirts.  I discovered an error i my template for the skirt corners and went back and modified all the panels.  Fortunately the error did not cause me to completely recut any of the panels over again.  Then I went back over all the panels and cut the notches in the seam overlaps where the skirt corners are curved.
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I modified the plans again.  One of the very few places on the skirt where a seam is in direct conflict with the flow of water is where the aft skirt drain flap is attached.  I cut a slit athwart ships and 1 inch forward of the drain opening.  Then I modified the flap so that it is inserted into this slit and glued to the inside of the skirt.  The cut edge of the slit then faces aft and the water flow won't tend to want to peel the flap off.

5.25

04-16-00

I cut 4" wide flotation foam strips and loads of 1" vinyl strips to attach the foam inside the skirts and started gluing away.  The foam still has to be riveted on the ends to prevent it from slipping out of the strips.  The skirt drain flap was glued in and my modification looks like it is a perfect solution.  No edges face the oncoming water at all.  I glued the front quarter skirts to the side skirts, the rear quarter skirts to the rear skirt and then the side skirts to the rear quarter skirts.  After the foam is riveted it will be ready to attach to the hull.  This part of the project went surprisingly quickly and was not nearly as difficult as I first thought it would be.  The corners came out very nice and extremely smooth.  If I get it attached to the hull correctly, there shouldn't be a single wrinkle in it anywhere.

5.50

04-18-00

I cut the bow skirt vent flaps and glued them in place.  I also cut loads of rivet patches so they are ready when I get the rivets installed in the floatation foam.

1.50

04-19-00

I cut, drilled and test fit the aluminum strips that go around the back and along the port side of the hull to use as a skirt clamp.
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I riveted the foam strips to the skirt and glued small cover patches over the heads of the rivets on the outside of the skirt.

1.25
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2.25

04-20-00

I cut, drilled and test fit the aluminum skirt clamp for the starboard side, across the bow and the two forward quarter sections.  I also glued the two side bow skirt panels to the front bow skirt

2.25

04-25-00

I finally got to attach some of the skirt to the hull!  I started installing the skirt across the back and worked around and up each side.  I only got the top edge of the skirt on but it felt like a big achievement!  I also installed the aluminum stiffeners to the front skirt vent flaps.

2.25

04-26-00

I attached the bow skirt, cut the aluminum skirt clamps for the inside edges of the forward quarter skirt and attached the forward quarter skirt to the hull.  I cut the aluminum skid to length, shaped the ends and cut a notch to clear the partition skirt when the craft is resting on the ground.

2.25

04-27-00

The inside edges of the side skirts were glued to the hull with contact cement.  The divider skirt clamp was cut, drilled and test fit in position.  The divider skirt pattern was laid out and cut.

2.25

04-28-00

The divider skirt was glued to the bow skirt and then clamped to the H8A & H8B panels.  The aluminum skids were installed along the edges of the side skirts and thru bolted to the H6 panel.  All the skirt clamps are thru bolted with stainless steel machine screws, fender washers and nylon locknuts wherever possible.  Self tapping stainless steel screws are used whenever there is a solid object to fasten into.

2.75

04-29-00

I glued the two side bow skirt panels to the forward quarter skirts to finish the skirt closure around the perimeter of the hull.  I cut the skirt clamps for the rear partition skirt.  I cut and glued together the two halves of the rear partition skirt.  Doubling patches were added to the rear partition skirt where it will lay under the skids when parked.

3.25

04-30-00

I installed the rear divider skirt to the hull then glued it to the divider skirt.  It was then glued to both of the side skirts. The hull was flipped back right side up and the corners where the the bow skirt and the bow side skirts meet at the hull edge were trimmed and glued so the fit was perfect.  Then all the aluminum clamp strips were removed in preparation for the hull paint.

2.50

05-03-00

I cut the extension flap for the fan splitter skirt and then cut the aluminum skirt clamp to hold the skirt to the splitter bar.  It was was temporarily installed while I cut the rear, inside skirt closure panels.  The first of two pieces of the closure panels were cut and installed with temporary fasteners.

2.00

05-04-00

I cut and fit the last two pieces of the rear closure panels.  Everything was glued and screwed to the hull for the final assembly.  The outer rear skirt clamp was screwed down for the final time.

1.75

05-14-00

After painting I finished installing the aluminum skirt clamps around the perimeter of the hull.

0.25

05-27-00

I put the hull up on 10 inch stands and fired up the engine with the fan only.  I marked the bow, partition and divider skirts at the ground contact line and trimmed the skirts.  I also had to replace a few screws with long bolts and then attached the pull ropes to the front vent ports.

2.00

 Skirts on, engine runs, everything is coming together nicely.  Just a little more work to do and we can go flying!

Let's get the electrical system and any other little details next!  On to the next phase.

TOTAL TIME THIS PHASE.....

46.75