Introduction
Welcome to my build diary for my UH-18SPW hovering called 'The Sea Demon'. To see all the build pages click on the 3 lines on the top left and click on the build diary option.
Posts
Trailer
Now that the test run was successful I needed to build a trailer to get it to the water. There were many design considerations and limitations with this trailer build. I wanted this to be a fly on fly off trailer. Some of the limitations/considerations were; The trailer can only be 2.5m wide so the wheels will have to be under the frame. I wanted minimal setup time so no removable ramp. I needed the smallest ramp angle. Using these considerations I came up with a design and drew it on 3D software. The trailer is 8.5m long including a 2.4m ramp section, 2.5m wide, 700mm high and it uses a winch system to move a sliding subframe to which the axle is attached. The subframe slides 3m towards lowering the rear to create a 5.5 degree ramp angle.
Painting
Well this is my most hated step but eventually worth it. I chose to use a professional paint shop to help me paint it as I have spent all this effort building it and would hate for it to look bad. It was Jason Shipman from Winnellie panel and paint in Darwin. His work on the craft was amazing. We can up with a deal that included me doing all the sanding (the worst part of the build). Here are photos of process
The first flight
The day has come!! It was time to test the hovercraft on water. The pictures and videos speak for themselves. The footage went viral and I was involved in several interviews including a live interview on the today show. https://youtu.be/Ba52Qx9IClU https://youtu.be/6P-Y8QaUvGo https://youtu.be/MIKBHTdY-yM https://youtu.be/78wsNglL2k4 https://youtu.be/lgPLbmI7tBg
