Looking for suggestions for long distance move of wings??

[John Bickham]

Got a long distance move coming up shortly. First load will be the Bearhawk project and whatever shop tools and equipment will fit in the Penske truck. Headed to Mid Valley Airpark, Los Lunas, NM. Can't trust movers with this. My only real concern is transporting the wings without screwing them up and looking for any suggestions. I made a wing rack early on and was wondering if anyone has previous experience transporting wings in a rack like the one pictured below? Just concerned about road rash damage to leading edge. There is fiberboard in form with some additional padding under the carpet at the leading edge.


HPIM1401.JPG


Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions. If you happen to be flying south of Albquerque welcome to stop in. Good fuel stop and we can put you up once we get settled in.

[jaredyates]

I moved ours and had access to some of the kit shipping styrofoam, so I used a strip of 2" foam about 10" wide to support the entire leading edge, with the wing chords vertical and the spans along the truck walls. When it was time for the short drive to the first flight airport, I used a cradle similar to the one in your picture. Both methods worked fine, but I didn't have quite as long of a trip in the cradle.

[John Bickham]

Thanks Jared. Being the hoarder that I am, I've still got some of the shipping foam and will give that some thought. Spreading the load the entire leading edge seems prudent. Being the hoarder that I am, I've got a lot of "stuff" to cull out my shop in prep for the move. too much

I'll owe you an update to the builders map when things get final.

[jaredyates]

That's what I was thinking too, about spreading the load. The foam may not be good for paint, but that doesn't seem to be an issue for your situation yet.

[marcusofcotton]

I transported a wing in clecos on leading edge in similar position on a trailer, supported on two three inch straps each at a nose rib. Only 250 miles but close critical inspection showed no issue.

[Bdflies]

Uh John, you realize that there aren't crawfish in New Mexico...

When I brought my project from Arizona, to my shop, I borrowed a box trailer, with attachment rails on the sidewalls. We've got aluminum wing cradles that snap into the attach rails. Foam was used to protect the wings from the racks. Straps were used to suspend the wings in the racks. See pic below. You might be able to fabricate racks that wouldn't require the side rails.

Bill

[John Bickham]

You are so right Bill. But every trip home will be a grocery run. And trips home will be scheduled around weather and crawfish season. That is one of the great things about the Bearhawk. It's ice chest carrying capacity. ;<)

[N3UW]

I transported mine from Denver to Seattle in a POd. I built a crate for the wing and spars that used a cradle that supported the wing vertically with two 12" wide carpet slings that were about 1/4 of the way in from tip and root over a rib, I then used some foam rubber and wooden blocks to keep it from shifting around. It came through perfectly and that was with movers loading and moving the pod. Moved all the bearhawk parts and and a lot of shop stuff in the pod

[BradW1062]

I made a stand similar to the plywood one you have here, but I used 2x6's and plywood gussets, mainly because that's what I had on hand. Instead of carpet, I used 6" wide lifting strap material that I got at a local industrial supply store. The straps were at about the second or third rib in from each end of the wings, and I set them to be fully suspended above the frame of the stand. This was just for storage in the shop, but I figured I would use it to move them to the airport later.

When I moved, I just put a binder strap across the wings from the outside bottom of the frame, over both wings and back down to the other side to keep them in place during transport. I didn't have any problem with this, they rode just fine in a trailer over 300 miles, with some rough sections of interstate highway. Here's a pic of the stand in my storage unit after a sort trip across town. I have a better picture somewhere if you would like to see it I will look for it.

Brad