A

Alan A

Member
I need to transport wings, HS, and VS to its new home over 2000 miles away. I'd prefer to move them in the back of my full size pickup truck after making a custom carrier in the bed. Does anyone have any plans or tips, or words of wisdom for taking the RV 7 on such a long road trip. I'd appreciate your ideas and pictures if you have them.
Thanks
Alan
 
I can't say much about HS ans VS but regarding wings - look at pictures (there are plenty of them) how Van's packing QB wings:

20070225b.jpg


Looks pretty nice to me.
 
Blankets

Hi Alan,
We transported ours 1000 miles in a U-haul but I suppose a pickup would work as long as you wrap the tail pieces really well with either bubble-wrap or heavy blankets (what we did). Be absolutely sure to tie the wings down and also prevent any forward or rearward motion. Passing 18 wheelers can suck stuff outta your bed. Stop often to re-check, re-tighten it all.

Good luck,
 
I'm not sure the bed of a full-size will be long enough. I used a U-haul both times I moved with my wings; I built one of those rolling stands similar to the Bingelis sketch and blocked the wheels and used tiedowns to secure the wings in the cargo area. If I were doing it in a PU, I think I'd remove the gas tanks and make a stand to support the wings at the spar at the tip end and put that end near the cab. I'd then make another stand to support the spar near the tailgate. Wood blocks nailed on the supports to keep the spars from shifting l/r. Tanks and empennage bubble/blanket wrapped (U-haul sells moving blankets cheap) and packed how you will. When I built my wing, there was about an inch of spar web extending past the tip ribs which is not structural and could be easily drilled and screwed into a support; if your wings don't have this then you may have to fashion a different support. I'd suggest a block of wood inside the outermost bay up against the spar and long enough to go past the lightening hole and then screwed into another block of wood that will actually rest on or become the support.

The actual move is kinda scary at first but you will find that the wings are plenty strong and travel easily. Exposing them to the elements and passing vehicles may be a different thing; I agree that you should check them often. Have you considered hauling a trailer?
 
If you build a wooden stand, be sure that it is screwed together very well. I didn't check my wing stands before my last move and so didn't realize that the wood had dried out and shrunk, causing some of the screws to pull partway out. Having my wings fall over inside the Penske truck when the wing stand fell apart was quite a shock, and is going to cause me to have to build a new flap.

PJ Seipel
RV-10 #40032
 
FYI, I built the wing stand in that picture in anticipation of the arrival of the QB. It was not used in the shipping. If I recall correctly, the wings were anchored to the side of the delivery trailer with some wide straps.

http://bowenaero.com/mt/2007/02/rv7-quickbuild-arrives.html


Tomasz said:
I can't say much about HS ans VS but regarding wings - look at pictures (there are plenty of them) how Van's packing QB wings:

20070225b.jpg


Looks pretty nice to me.
Click to expand...
 
N130WN said:
FYI, I built the wing stand in that picture in anticipation of the arrival of the QB. It was not used in the shipping.
Click to expand...
Didn't know that as I didn't see any QB shipped... yet :) Just saw it on your blog so figured out it's a very nice idea to transport wings.
 
Clamps and slings...

I used the sailplane trailer mounting approach. I had a fixture similar to the picture above, but then built a 1/2 ply and 2x2 frame around it. The frame went about 2/3 the way up the height of the wing chord and around the tip end.

The sailplane trailer bit.... Clamp the wing root tight to the fixture, but use heavy duty slings about 2/3 out along the wing. This way, any twist to the fixture during movement will not put any loads on the wing. If you hold the tip end in a tight fitting, padded "U" shape support, any twist of the fixture can put a load on the wing.

This worked well in the back of a moving truck from Los Angeles to Tucson...:)

gil A ... built 2 sailplane trailers...:)
 
Maybe I'll tow a trailer.

Thanks for your ideas. I was hoping to make custom carrier for the truck bed. I didn't really want to haul a trailer the whole way. I'm now however leaning towards trailering everything. Kind of a hassle to tow it but I guess it would probably be an equal hassle to make the custom carrier to support everything. See ya.... gotta go grease my trailer bearings and check the tires.
Alan
 
Alan A said:
Thanks for your ideas. I was hoping to make custom carrier for the truck bed. I didn't really want to haul a trailer the whole way. I'm now however leaning towards trailering everything. Kind of a hassle to tow it but I guess it would probably be an equal hassle to make the custom carrier to support everything. See ya.... gotta go grease my trailer bearings and check the tires.
Alan
Click to expand...

Hands down... you will be glad you used a trailer (enclosed preferred). And as mentioned, a dozen blankets would make it easier to eliminate damage. Ratchet straps also a big help here...
 
If the wings are exposed in the bed of a pickup truck, be sure to have a very sturdy wing support, and have the wings very, very well secured. I moved my wings about 30 miles that way, and was caught by surprise as the wind came up. Two wings side by side present a huge amount of area for the wind to push on. The force of the wind on the wings caused the screws to start to pull out of my wing carriage. We had to do an emergency jury-rigged carriage repair 15 miles out.

I would serious consider renting an enclosed truck.
 
Partain Transport

Have you thought about calling the professionals? We may be able to do it cheaper and most certainly safer.

If you still want to do this yourself make sure that the wing cradle provides enough area to the leading edge so they don't dent the skins. I would also recommend that that the supports are lined up with the ribs.
 
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I recently moved my wings and tail pieces a couple hundred miles in the bed of a pickup truck using my wing cradle (similar to the one pictured earlier). If you have a full size bed and can leave the tailgate down it doesn't stick out too far.

I removed the wheels from the cradle and screwed it to the bed of the truck. Bolted and clamped the spars to the cradle (using plastic spacers to not damage the spar). Used padding and multiple tie down straps to ensure the rest of the wing was secure.

To transport the tail pieces I attached a vertical 2x4 on each end of one side of the cradle, and screwed a piece of plywood to those supports. After adding a couple more 2x4s for horizontal support I drilled holes in the plywood large enough to run tie down straps through. I carefully wrapped each individual tail piece in towels and strapped them to the side of the plywood. I ensured each tie down strap was wrapped around a 2x4 support and had a redundant strap in case one broke.

I hope that description makes sense. I really wish I would have taken a few pictures. Rereading my description it sounds kind of complicated but I already had the wing cradle and scrap lumber. It only took a couple hours to throw the rest together. The trip was uneventful even though I cringed with every bump.
 
Moving wings

We built the wing cradle per Vans and simply set each end on a small dolly and wheeled the wings/cradle onto a rental trailer (about $25). Taped and strapped cradle and wings well. Jane (wife) and I did the move from bringing trailer into driveway @ home to wings in hanger 12 miles away in about 45 minutes. We used two cars, one behind the trailer, and communicated by cell phone. Was a piece of cake! And fun too. Good luck. Bill
 
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