Comment

Comment by Bob McDonald on March 31, 2013 at 11:28am

If you look close you will see a "folding scaffold" supporting the rear fuselage. Only suppport in the area dirrectly in front of the tie down ring as this is the only structural strong enough in the rear fuselage... I figure its about 80 lbs (rear fuselage) if your lifting off the engine mounts. It would be preferable to put a left over length of rudder cable around the cabin frame tube where the front spar bolts on, with an "eye" on the end to allow you to lift the airframe using a "whipple tree" or what hunters call a "gam hook". The critical part is to put a length of steel between the two cables from the front spar attach points and lift the centre of the whipple tree so that no side loads (pulling to the center or sides) is placed on the cables when lifting the airframe. Another option would be to weld a lifting point into the front cabin frame while building so an "lifting ring" could be installed to lift the airframe for float or ski installation.

Comment by Tracy Buttles on March 30, 2013 at 3:48pm

Hey bob   , looks like you lifted up on the engine mount ,I have a guy that wnts me to make fittings on the front spar attachments , any thoughts on that spot? how did you support/lift the tail ?

 

Comment by Bob McDonald on July 8, 2012 at 10:10am

I posted detailed pictures of the lifting method on the Zenair Float group of this site. Basically its a 1 1/2" heavy wall square tube spreader bar to keep the lift vertical on the motor mount (as close to firewall as possible) and 1/4" steel cable wrapped in rubber fuel line....1 ton chain fall. Rear is supported by scaffold with heavy padding only in front of tie down ring area, as there is nothing structural in the fuselage to lift from.

Comment by Mark Maltais on July 8, 2012 at 7:54am

Would be scary for sure, what did you use for lifting points?