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General / Re: Plough in

Last post by Al - Yesterday at 7:05 pm

I finally was able to get back out on the loch today. The day started badly with the electric winch not working. Battery only had 10 volts in it, so looks like one of the cells has given up. Tried a different battery & winch still not working. After investigating it, looks like winch motor has packed in, so new winch ordered. So pleased that I fitted a manual winch as a back up a few weeks ago.
Anyway, we finally got down to the loch after lunch. First run up the loch with a very light breeze behind us, was with the roof up. I tried to keep the engine RPM around 2500. I reached a speed of around 22mph. I could feel the craft wanting to plough, but it didn't. Once we reached the beach at the north end of the loch, I lowered the roof. I then flew to the island in the middle of the loch and after a brief stop on the island for a few pictures, we started our journey back to the top of the loch, but within a few seconds of pulling away from the island we heard something go through the propellor. So I immediately, headed back to the island and switched off the engine, to investigate what had happened. Not sure how it happened, but the starboard side of the safety netting had got caught in the prop, and had wound itself around the prop hub. Only thing I can think of, is that a couple of the cable tie holding it to the prop cage had let go, allowing part of the netting to get caught in the prop. Luckily no damage, other than the netting needs replacing. Lesson learned, change the cable ties holding the netting every few months.
We headed back to the beach at the top of the loch and the craft felt happier "if that makes sense". Once back on the beach, I then removed the rear center cover and headed back to the island with the roof down. Immediately the hover felt more nimble regarding lift. The craft popped on to lift noticebly quicker than the previous two flights. This time I flew it around the rear of the island. I still tried to keep the RPM around 2500. Once around the island and heading back to the beach at the top of the loch, I noticed we were travelling at 32 mph without even trying . We could feel the craft trying to dip its nose, but immediately divider skirt doing its job, keeping the nose up. Once we got back to the beach, I put the roof back up and left the centre cover off. Again the craft was working as it should.
For the flight back to our launch site, I once again put the roof down and left the cover off. Again it flew very nicely.
I'm now going to buy some stainless steel mesh and make a new centre section for the rear end.