[Tim aka frenchy]

Hey guys,

I put this in general hovering so it won't need moved to past events, but this post is about hovering in general partly anyway. I just wanted to say another huge thank you to everybody at the hoverally. Chris Sorgatz, Tim Clearwood, Steve (Bob), Bob Wendt, David Beachy, Harold Carter, on, and on, and on.......

Once again, the wonderful thing about Hovercrafts is the people you meet. There were so many, and I am so terrible with names, but you know who you are. Every question received an answer. Nobody looks at you like you are imposing, and everybody helps everybody! That is what the Hoverally is all about for most of us. If you can't get help with a problem with your craft, you just arn't paying attention. There are so many ideas to be looked at. It is amazing the number of steering designes, throttle controls, craft shapes, ways to lighten your craft, prop types, construction materials, some perfected, some still works in progress, but all worth noting.

I just want to say a huge thank you to Marquis, Jason, and the other board members for all your efforts putting this thing together! And, Herold, the Budweiser Point to Point challenge was AWSOME! A lot of thought and work went into it, and it showed!

After some initial problems with my lift all day Friday, I put over 50 river miles on "The Rat" and just had a blast! Like I said a couple of times, it just proves you CAN build a hovercraft in a field! lol

If I wasn't hooked for life on Hovercrafts before, I am now for sure. Hopefully many of the "spectators" that walked around looking at crafts like I did last year, will be there next year with their new crafts too. Some of them will just talk about building one forever, but some of them will be there.

Though Chillicothe is a great fund raiser for the club, I think it is also without a doubt the best way to get people involved with hovercrafts and into the club as new members too.

Well, I rambled on enough here, but just didn't want to not say...............THANKS GUYS!

Tim and The RiverRat

[thinwater]

I was glad to finally meet you Tim. It was a great time. I was hoping we put the River Rat and Big Ugly head to head for a brief moment on the cruise. I know that they are currently kinda close on speed although I believe your a little ahead. It would've been interesting to me to compare the crafts performance against each other, then do it again in a couple of gatherings after we've both messed with our lift setups. I'm going to try to have a new fan on with a different splitter by Cherokee. I believe your thrust is right on and some duct tightening is going to give you some more speed.

Thanks from me to all the guys, great idea sharing, and idea support.

Stephen

[thinwater]

I believe your thrust is right on and some duct tightening is going to give you some more speed.

Thanks from me to all the guys, great idea sharing, and idea support.

Stephen
[/quote]


I mean lift duct tightening, forgot to clarify for those who weren't in on the actual conversation.

[Tim aka frenchy]

Hi Stephen,
It was great to meet you too! Yeah, it sure would have been interesting to compair our speeds. My GPS is an older one, and I am not sure how accurate it is, so I had David Beachy follow me up river a couple of times and check my speed. I was averaging about 19 to 20 mph up stream and about 25 down stream. The fact that there was a difference confirms that too much of my skirt is in the water being effected by the currant of the river. But, 25 wasn't bad. Not NEAR where I want to eventually be, but getting there.

Thanks for your help and suggestions. Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to get many of the improvements done and see what difference it makes. Have fun at Cherokee! Wish I could be there.

Tim and The RiverRat

I was glad to finally meet you Tim. It was a great time. I was hoping we put the River Rat and Big Ugly head to head for a brief moment on the cruise. I know that they are currently kinda close on speed although I believe your a little ahead. It would've been interesting to me to compare the crafts performance against each other, then do it again in a couple of gatherings after we've both messed with our lift setups. I'm going to try to have a new fan on with a different splitter by Cherokee. I believe your thrust is right on and some duct tightening is going to give you some more speed.

Thanks from me to all the guys, great idea sharing, and idea support.

Stephen

[kach22i]

It was nice meeting everyone, and nice to meet many people who do not use the Internet but somehow managed to build a hovercraft and bring it to the rally.

[HoverTrekker]

It was nice meeting everyone, and nice to meet many people who do not use the Internet but somehow managed to build a hovercraft and bring it to the rally.

George I never got a chance to stop and talk with you. How did your new skirt work out?

[kach22i]

George I never got a chance to stop and talk with you. How did your new skirt work out?

I'll be starting a thread on it very soon which will include some videos.

The short version is: IT WORKED!

The longer version is, it needs more work including balancing the pressure between the bag skirt and the pressure under the craft. Also the stern skirt has detail issues and got torn up on the rocks. This was mostly because it had too much air pressure and was ready to pop - did not take to much punishment.

[shull3]

George
Don't feel bad. Eric managed to find several pounds of rocks to add to the inside of our skirt. The corner and edge tore out on a gravel bar and we emptied fist sized rocks out of the skirt. It now needs total repair! Oh well. The next hover opportunity for us is the Maumee cruise. That should be enough time. I will get you the few seconds of video that I took of your craft as soon as possible. It was nice to put a face to an internet connection. I was thrilled to see your Scat on the water!

[Tim aka frenchy]

Scott,
I thought of you and Eric Monday. After arriving home I was telling my wife about the new thrust prop I bought from Chris Sorgatz. I said, let's run up to the river a few minutes tomorrow so you can see the difference. Sooooo Monday, it was up the river. A couple of miles up stream, I went onto a sandbar to turn around and slid right into a huge hunk of "I-beam" just sticking out of the sand. I put a hole the size of a watermellon into the skirt. Thank goodness for those wire ties....I made it back. Once home I too was pulling rocks from the skirt and thought of you guys and the "proctology" analogy.....lololololol Good times! :-)

Later, Tim and The RiverRat

George
Don't feel bad. Eric managed to find several pounds of rocks to add to the inside of our skirt. The corner and edge tore out on a gravel bar and we emptied fist sized rocks out of the skirt. It now needs total repair! Oh well. The next hover opportunity for us is the Maumee cruise. That should be enough time. I will get you the few seconds of video that I took of your craft as soon as possible. It was nice to put a face to an internet connection. I was thrilled to see your Scat on the water!

[kach22i]

Thank goodness for those wire ties....

Now that I'm a "bag skirt guy", what is this quick in field "wire tie" repair all about? Something stronger than garbage bag ties I assume.

[H2O MAN]

Pictures?

Did anyone take pictures at this event?

[Marquis Songer]

They're coming Stay tuned to the website here in the next day or so.

Marquis

[Tim aka frenchy]

George,
I speak of wire ties, or zip ties like used around bundles of electrical wire. Punch a row of small holes through the skirt on each side of the rip and slip a wire tie through. Zip it together and snip off the eccess. It works like a doctor stiches a cut. Sure saved my patootie!

Tim and The RiverRat

Now that I'm a "bag skirt guy", what is this quick in field "wire tie" repair all about? Something stronger than garbage bag ties I assume.

[Tim aka frenchy]

Hey Kevin,

I will go post a few in the gallery under past events.

Tim and The RiverRat

Pictures?

Did anyone take pictures at this event?

[ken]

George,
I speak of wire ties, or zip ties like used around bundles of electrical wire. Punch a row of small holes through the skirt on each side of the rip and slip a wire tie through. Zip it together and snip off the eccess. It works like a doctor stiches a cut. Sure saved my patootie!

Tim and The RiverRat

Keep in mind that this is a temporary fix, George. Not a way to build it in the first place. The zip ties tend to stick out, so if the tear or cut is on the contact line, your zip ties won't last very long.