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GeoB
Joined: 16 Jun 2009
Posts: 207
Location: Fresno, CA
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 Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:56 pm Post subject: Ideas on enclosing trailer |
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I recently bought a Kolb FS-I. A trailer came with. It is a semi-converted tilt boat trailer. It has heavy steel square tubing welded on the periphery to widen it. Works OK, no big problem.
I want to keep my plane out of the weather plus I want better security. I am puzzling over the best way to enclose the thing.
I need to keep the cost down. I have been thinking of using 1/2 EMT and bend it to form stringers for sides and a roof with a curving transition. I am thinking of fastening patio roofing panels, corrugated roofing, or something on there for skin.
I expect to use a light plywood for flooring. I may use a heavier grade for the two tracks that the main gear roll on.
The trailer is lightly sprung, and is great for the light-weight plane. I need to keep weight down so I don't have to add a leaf to the springs making the ride harsher.
The tilt feature isn't all that important to me. It has a hand-crank boat winch with a wide nylon strap near the front. I may do a spring-over-axle conversion in order to get more ground clearance, and to better match my 4x4. This would tend to minimize scraping the rear of the trailer on valley-gutters.
Thinking of a vertical sort of boat prow on the front and the back.
I am looking for ideas on skin and the stringers and well... really, ideas on everything. How to join the stringers to one another? What would be a cheap(ish) available light(ish) skin material? Shower enclosure gelcoat fiberglass panels? I have been watching craigslist for used aluminum or galvanized roofing panels. Maybe corrugated fiberglass panels?
Thanks
GeoB
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GeoB
"Members of Congress should be compelled to wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers, so we could identify their corporate sponsors" |
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Dana
Joined: 13 Dec 2007
Posts: 1047
Location: Connecticut, USA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 3:33 am Post subject: Ideas on enclosing trailer |
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I was going to suggest a light wooden frame and fabric, but then I reread it and saw you wanted security.
My trailer (which I didn't build, only rebuilt) also appears to be built on a boat trailer. The extra framing is perforated steel angle and some channel, like they build industrial shelving units out of, all welded together. Floor is 3/4" plywood, lower sides are 3/8" plywood, upper sides and roof are 20GA stainless (which would NOT be cheap; the previous owner must have had it laying around).
I had to replace pretty much all the wood. I looked at lots of options but using plywood again was about the cheapest.
Some pictures are at <http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v486/flyparafan/Kolb/Trailer/>
-Dana
At 02:56 AM 8/19/2010, GeoB wrote:
[quote]--> Kolb-List message posted by: "GeoB" <gab16(at)sbcglobal.net>
I recently bought a Kolb FS-I. A trailer came with. It is a semi-converted tilt boat trailer. It has heavy steel square tubing welded on the periphery to widen it. Works OK, no big problem.
I want to keep my plane out of the weather plus I want better security. I am puzzling over the best way to enclose the thing.
I need to keep the cost down. I have been thinking of using 1/2 EMT and bend it to form stringers for sides and a roof with a curving transition. I am thinking of fastening patio roofing panels, corrugated roofing, or something on there for skin.
I expect to use a light plywood for flooring. I may use a heavier grade for the two tracks that the main gear roll on.
The trailer is lightly sprung, and is great for the light-weight plane. I need to keep weight down so I don't have to add a leaf to the springs making the ride harsher.
The tilt feature isn't all that important to me. It has a hand-crank boat winch with a wide nylon strap near the front. I may do a spring-over-axle conversion in order to get more ground clearance, and to better match my 4x4. This would tend to minimize scraping the rear of the trailer on valley-gutters.
Thinking of a vertical sort of boat prow on the front and the back.
I am looking for ideas on skin and the stringers and well... really, ideas on everything. How to join the stringers to one another? What would be a cheap(ish) available light(ish) skin material? Shower enclosure gelcoat fiberglass panels? I have been watching craigslist for used aluminum or galvanized roofing panels. Maybe corrugated fiberglass panels?
Thanks
GeoB
--------
GeoB
"Members of Congress should be compelled to wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers, so we could identify their corporate sponsors"
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lcottrell
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 1494
Location: Jordan Valley, Or
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| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 5:02 am Post subject: Ideas on enclosing trailer |
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What would be a cheap(ish) available light(is) skin material? Shower enclosure gel coat fiberglass panels? I have been watching craigslist for used aluminum or galvanized roofing panels. Maybe corrugated fiberglass panels?
I guess it all depends on how long you want it to last. I built a trailer for my Firestar and used corrugated roofing material in the color that I liked. I long ago gave up building anything temporary.
Larry
Note: If you forward this email, please delete the forwarding history, which includes my email address.
[quote][b]
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capedavis(at)yahoo.com
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| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 8:45 am Post subject: Ideas on enclosing trailer |
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George I built a trailer for my firestar KXP out of an old boat trailer that I
lightened up the springs on and added better shocks to it worked great . I
covered it with the shrinkwrap that they use to wrap boats for winter storage ,
I thought it would last one year and it lasted FIVE ! it only cost me a couple
hundred dollars installed and I bet if I had done it again I could do it myself
as it is very much like heat shrinking aircraft fabric only easier cause you can
use a torch to shrink it and glue it together! Hope this helps and Im sure you
can buy the shrinkwrap from a marine supply catalog you find online. Chris
Chris Davis
KXP 503 492 hrs
Glider Pilot
Disabled from crash building Firefly
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russkinne(at)mac.com
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| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 1:48 pm Post subject: Ideas on enclosing trailer |
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Chris
Some members may not know this, but up north, in the spring, there
are ACRES of boat shrink-wrap peeled off of
winter-stored boats & available for free. It is recycled and melted
down but you can get a whole bunch for the asking.
Good stuff too, even glue-able into bigger sheets.
On Aug 19, 2010, at 12:39 PM, chris davis wrote:
[quote]
George I built a trailer for my firestar KXP out of an old boat
trailer that I
lightened up the springs on and added better shocks to it worked
great . I
covered it with the shrinkwrap that they use to wrap boats for
winter storage ,
I thought it would last one year and it lasted FIVE ! it only cost
me a couple
hundred dollars installed and I bet if I had done it again I could
do it myself
as it is very much like heat shrinking aircraft fabric only easier
cause you can
use a torch to shrink it and glue it together! Hope this helps and
Im sure you
can buy the shrinkwrap from a marine supply catalog you find
online. Chris
Chris Davis
KXP 503 492 hrs
Glider Pilot
Disabled from crash building Firefly
---
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neilsenrm(at)gmail.com
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 6:01 am Post subject: Ideas on enclosing trailer |
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Check out http://www.oh2fly.net/Main_trailer_kolb.htm
George has put together a web site that shows a bunch of Kolb trailers including mine. Why reinvent, better to take someone elses.
Rick Neilsen
1st Redrive VW Powered MKIIIC
On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 5:47 PM, russ kinne <russkinne(at)mac.com (russkinne(at)mac.com)> wrote:
[quote]--> Kolb-List message posted by: russ kinne <russkinne(at)mac.com (russkinne(at)mac.com)>
Chris
Some members may not know this, but up north, in the spring, there are ACRES of boat shrink-wrap peeled off of
winter-stored boats & available for free. It is recycled and melted down but you can get a whole bunch for the asking.
Good stuff too, even glue-able into bigger sheets.
On Aug 19, 2010, at 12:39 PM, chris davis wrote:
[quote]
--> Kolb-List message posted by: chris davis <capedavis(at)yahoo.com (capedavis(at)yahoo.com)>
George I built a trailer for my firestar KXP out of an old boat trailer that I
lightened up the springs on and added better shocks to it worked great . I
covered it with the shrinkwrap that they use to wrap boats for winter storage ,
I thought it would last one year and it lasted FIVE ! it only cost me a couple
hundred dollars installed and I bet if I had done it again I could do it myself
as it is very much like heat shrinking aircraft fabric only easier cause you can
use a torch to shrink it and glue it together! Hope this helps and Im sure you
can buy the shrinkwrap from a marine supply catalog you find online. Chris
Chris Davis
KXP 503 492 hrs
Glider Pilot
Disabled from crash building Firefly
---
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GeoB
Joined: 16 Jun 2009
Posts: 207
Location: Fresno, CA
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| Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 10:44 am Post subject: Ideas on enclosing trailer |
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| Quote: | George has put together a web site that shows a bunch of Kolb trailers
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This is very useful to me! Thanks Richard!
And thanks to all who have responded... it has all been very helpful.
One feller said (too lazy to go back and see who said it, but thanks) that I
should use EMT heavier than 1/2" if I go that route. Yes, I sure might.
Guess it depends on overall weight and cost and structural needs (like I'm
qualified to specify that!). I thought I'd just use them closer together if
I used 1/2" dia. Plus (I'll invent a phrase-) I will be going
"semi-geodetic" in that I will have some diagonals where needed also. *IF* I
go that route. I have the luxury of time here.
I was poking around at a recycling yard looking for cheap metal panels. I
saw a big fiberglass(?) bubble used to streamline large truck trailers. I
have been looking for a way to use that! How kewl would that be! But I can't
see it fitting in.
I could protect the plane from the weather by using a plastic or fabric
covering but I think I'd better go for a lil more security than that. Lowes
has some galvanized (Galvaume? Galvulume?) roofing panels, 3' x 12'. Hafta
take my scales in and weigh a panel unless I can find details on-line.
| Quote: | Why reinvent, better to take someone elses.
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Re-inventing is a waste of time, except maybe it stirs up the old brain
cells. But maybe I can come up with something good nobody else has yet. I
doubt it though. I'll probably just borrow ideas from several places.
| Quote: | I had decided a long time ago that I was the list cheapskate, but I guess
not. Gas welding rod is not free, but I never worried about spending
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I gotta at least be in the running here for 'list cheapskate'. I started
doing welding with coat hangers as a kid when I had NO money. My exhaust
system on my 4x4 has lasted about 13 years so far, welded up with coat
hangers. I have encountered no cracks, no tissue rejection, it just works.
It is all tucked up high between my frame rails for protection, cat,
muffler, pipe and all. It still takes a whack from the errant rock now and
then, even though there is a large rock-slider covering most of it. The
Sierras seem to be made of rock. 
| Quote: | All they ever did was commit perverted acts among themselves in the
darkness of the closet.
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WAIT!.. wait a minute... you are anthropomorphizing here. Hangers are not
people. They have their own culture and social mores which determine
'normal' and 'perverted' for them. Even animals behave that way during
certain seasons... newts, bats, frogs, some fish, some snakes... I can
still hear my anthro prof saying, "Culture determines right and wrong!"
| Quote: | You could tell what they had been up to by the huge, tangled wad they
would always be in every time you wanted one...
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Perhaps you fail to perceive that they do this as a service to those of us
who weld with coat hangers. It is a natural, instinctive thing for them.
GeoB
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_________________
GeoB
"Members of Congress should be compelled to wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers, so we could identify their corporate sponsors" |
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russkinne(at)mac.com
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 2:25 pm Post subject: Ideas on enclosing trailer |
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GeoB
I beg to differ with you. Coathangars are good well-rods, but like a
number of other inanimate objects; they DO mess around at night when
the lights are out. No other way to explain the unwanted
proliferation & huge tangles.
Esp for Kolbs -- so this is related.
Russ K
PS My grandpa used to talk about "the utter perversity of inanimate
objects". Boy was he right.
PPS The trailer website is invaluable. Thanx to you & all who
contributed to it.
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
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russkinne(at)mac.com
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 2:34 pm Post subject: Ideas on enclosing trailer |
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sorry, that was sposed to be off-list.
On Aug 21, 2010, at 6:24 PM, russ kinne wrote:
| Quote: |
GeoB
I beg to differ with you. Coathangars are good well-rods, but like
a number of other inanimate objects; they DO mess around at night
when the lights are out. No other way to explain the unwanted
proliferation & huge tangles.
Esp for Kolbs -- so this is related.
Russ K
PS My grandpa used to talk about "the utter perversity of inanimate
objects". Boy was he right.
PPS The trailer website is invaluable. Thanx to you & all who
contributed to it.
|
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