Joe's First TD Build

[wingloader]

Quick intro: My name is Joe Schmucker. I live in a suburb just north of Buffalo NY. I am 45 and I am a CPA. I am also a programmer and I developed and run a web site to do web based international invoicing for Microsoft. My job allows me to work from anywhere there is an internet connection available. This is very good because I am a hang glider pilot and I travel a lot to get to places I can fly. There aren't a lot of good flying sites in Buffalo.

As such, I travel quite a bit to fly my hang glider and instead of paying to stay at motels etc. (or God forbid sleeping in a tent), having my own TD will be PERFECT.

Well, I am starting my first build. From the 20 plus hours I've spent reading all of your posts and build tips and tricks, I think I am ready to begin.

I am starting with a HF 4X8 frame. Similar to Zack, I plan to make the TD 5X9 by extending it over the wheels and extending off the back a foot or so.

I don't want to go about it all "willy nilly" so I am teaching myself how to use Autocad 2013. Here is my first cut at my profile.



I am trying to get my camper to look like sid's "sid n side". I absolutely love his style and it is exactly the profile I am trying to achieve.

It only took 2 hours to get that profile created on CAD. You folks who know how to use it could have made it in about 1 minute.

So, wish me well!

HERE GOES!!!

Joe

[Woodbutcher]

Welcome Joe. You seem to be off to a good start. If you need help ,just yell. There are plenty of us to answer any question you might have. Enjoy the building process, cause it's half the fun.

[AlgoDan]

HI Joe and welcome aboard, ya after numerous hours on the forum myself, I too took the challenge to build. You seem to have a good plan and post pics as you progress. Also I like your hobby of Hang Gliding, always wanted to do it. Good luck.

[Lonnie Mac]

Welcome Joe!

I see you are in the same phase as me. Love the use of Autocad you got there.

An old hang glider pilot myself but gave up flying some years ago when I moved back home here to the flatlands. I lived up in Cooperstown for years. Great sky's.

[KCStudly]

Welcome.

Your profile looks good. A couple of things come to mind that you may or may not have read or thought about yet.

Make sure that the lower edge of your hatch will swing out away from the side walls. Some people with tight under curling hatches and relatively flat roofs have found out the hard way that the arc between their hinge and bottom edge of hatch did not clear the rear most part of their walls, preventing the hatch from being able to open. Yours looks okay, but once you decide where the hinge will go it is an easy thing to swing an arc to make sure.

The other thing you will likely have to look out for is that you do not end up with an interference between the roof of your TD and your kite when crossing dips in the road; I am assuming that your kite travels on the roof of your TV and is a long package hanging off the back some. That would be bad. Your profile looks low and the HF trailer isn't super tall, but it could be an issue depending on your TV/kite setup.

Good luck.

[wingloader]

YAAAAY!

I got my build thread started! Check it out here:

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=55818

I am trying to get the outside finished in time to go on a hang gliding trip to Maryland in the first week of June.

I've worked hard on this so far so I really hope folks come take a look at my progress. I'm PROUD OF IT!!!