#14 Launch Road Car Top Carrier + Rivnut Install

Issue #14

Basically at a standstill with the wing panels since last fall. I did attempt to correct the bubbles formed during the PolyBrush first coat. I used a rag soaked with Reducer and removed the PolyBrush in those areas. The bubbles were visibly reduced but not eliminated. I will need to recoat these areas or risk pinholes in the top color coat.

I completed the first prototype car-top carrier which is shown here, mounted on the cross members of my stock Honda roof rack. I've tried it out and it works as planned as a one-person process. I need to add a washout spacer so that all four points of the bottom panel are supported after loading the wing halves.

Ready to load wing panels (and, yes, I need that step stool to do this)

First panel loaded (leading edge first so that I can easily add a washout support block before closing the rack).

both wing sets loaded with the rack ends closed and locked. I may re-think this and load that upper wing trailing edge first to make a better windstream profile on the front end although this is only intended to be moved no more than about 20 mph....I'll have to see what it will stand. Most of the sites I would fly this at could be driven slow from the LZ to launch anyway so it shouldn't be a problem.

I did some hardware sourcing research this winter and finally got the rivnuts that are central to the quick setup design of the Easy Riser airframe. I aquired an airframe from a damaged Easy that had been exposed to saltwater and outside storage so the rivnuts were badly corroded. The stamped, stainless steel brackets looked great so I decided to attempt to replace one to see if I could do it.

I drilled out the old rivnut.

Some of these brackets had key slots stamped into the rivnut hole and others did not. This one did not and I ended up filing a notch to accommodate the key on the new rivnut (I ordered them all keyed since my only reference when I ordered where the brackets in my kit which were all keyed). You can see the key on this new rivnut prior to installation.

I will include a photo of the tool I assembled from parts bought at a local hardware store to install the rivnut when I find it again. It consisted of a collar with set screw, a spacer and a bolt....simple and cheap.

Here are the two rivnut sizes used in the Easy Riser. One is 0.5 inch and the other is .75 inch. I got them from e-aircraftsupply.com (Jaco aerospace Pasadena, CA). The manufacturer is Ramco Specialties, Inc., Hudson, Ohio. The part code numbers the industry uses for these things are:

NAS# NAS1329C3K280, BFG# C10K-280, MS# MS27130-C29K

NAS# NAS1329C3K130, BFG# C10K-130, MS# MS27130-C26K

The K130 being the short one and the K280 the ¾ inch barrel. Please note I DID NOT use the same material as the kits sold by UFM. I decided to order stainless steel vs plain steel which did not stand up well as you can see. I did not price the plain steel ones. The cost on the order I placed was $2.00 each for the short ones and $2.50 each for the long ones.

Here's a shot of the finished, newly installed stainless steel rivnut using the homemade tool described above.