Another night in the shed

The dope has arrived today, so we need to get stuck in. Probably have a go at the empenage in the next few weeks then clean up the wings.

Start on the bottom

Have now turned the fuselage over and continuing to scrape!

Pano shot of H17

A Panorama shot inside the shed. The port wing in the background has also lost some of its fabric. The new colour scheme will be clear fabric and white dope. The clear dope has a delivery time of 4 months ex USA.

Work Continues

Horse collar is in need of work. The windscreen is crazed and will be replaced, the instrument panel will be upgraded. I think I will put skylights in the sides to illuminate the panel more too. Don't know if I will replace the red release knob though (old glue bottle cap). It has a certain charm!

Start Stripping the H17

Getting the Elevator moments.


Now the fabric can start coming off.

Hutter Control Deflections 2

Set up for the elevator (not zeroed).














Elevator datum used.




With any luck we should see this flying by summer in a new paint scheme and a fresh 20 yearly.

Hutter Control Deflections 1

Setting up the angle measurement device on the wing to determine control deflections.











Aileron droop under normal conditions (about 1.5 deg.)

A Bit More Hutter

Found an old T&B that someone had drilled out the mounting holes too big. Will probably put it in the Hutter. I wrote to Winter to see what a new faceplate would cost and they sent me one for free!! "Sehr nett" of Herr Winter.

Now ready to start stripping the poor old thing back.

Hutter - First Good Look 2

More snaps from the first general inspection night. Even more pictures here...

Hutter - First Good Look 1

Start the inspection work associated with the Form 2 and 20 yearly. I still haven't paid for the paperwork, but there's several months of work ahead, so not in a rush too much to pay at this stage.
I've got an inspection plan laid out and will probably put together a covering/paint scheme in the near future. Do the control deflections then onto the major structural inspection to find out what is under the skin...

Hutter Sees the Light

Now with new tyres and freshly registered, we can check the trailer lights and safely tow to the workshop.

The Hutter finally gets out of the hangar and the car is packed with trestles and stands for the work ahead.
The clouds are a bit ominous, so I ask the morning tuggy if he is happy to do the few tows for the afternoon to let me get away before any real rain starts to fall. Which is just as well. An hour or so after I get to the workshop the sky opens up and lets in all down. The poor old girl would have been badly drenched if I had left later. As I leave the workshop, after unloading all the peripheral stuff and checking that everything is secure I took a picture of the standing water. Most there's been since about last November.

Hutter Restoration Project Starts

Poor Hutter. It hadn't seen the light of day for over 4 years. Even the tyres on the trailer were perished. Time to get the trailer ready to take the Hutter where it can be more easily worked on.
First Job - Register the trailer and get new tyres...

Balls Pyramid

On our way

Diving in the lagoon

At Arajilla restaurant. We booked tonight's meal after we couldn't get in for New Years. It seems to be the most expensive and exclusive place on the island. The restaurant seems to be associated strongly with the hotel. That is, the hotel guests get first preference for tables and others come second. Arajilla also seems to have some health spa/massage for guests.Today I went diving with Howea Divers. Unfortuneately the sea was too strong to go outside the reef and I was stuck on two boatloads of beginners. We went to Comet's Hole and I was buddied with a Howea diver called Rachel. She seemed to get all the photo shots first but the water was full of sediment so there weren't any really good pictures to be had. LHI waters, although claimed to be clear, have really been a bit mucky during our stay.The next dive was at Hooks Peef, also known as the Horseshoe.Uschi and I visited both these sites on our snorkelling tour. Rachel had to go and on the second load there was only one leader.A young boy and his father made up the rest of the group and it took a while for them to get down. I waited under the boat for them. After they did their exercises we spent about 15 minutes on the reef then they retired to the boat, leaving me alone in about 2-3m of water. I spent maybe another 20 minutes there and saw a few good fish. Large Parrot Fish, smaller Puffers and Lizard fish on the sand. Then when my air was down to about 70 bar I went back to the boat. I was last one on board. After I got back I found Uschi had been to Sylph's Hole at the high tide and seen 4 (!) turtles. Three smaller ones and a large individual. By this time it was mid afternoon and Uschi and Christl had a snooze. I went up to the museum to see if I could use the internet, but the museum was shut. I went back to the guest house then on to the cemetery near Ned's Beach. I found the grave of Thompson (the first school teacher) and his student wife, buried in the same grave.

Mt Eliza

4/1/10Today we climbed Mt Eliza, leaving from the Old Settlement Beach. There was the first ridge to climb, then down to the picnic area near North Beach. We had visited this picnic area on our earlier Turtle Tour, much easier to get to by boat. From the Picnic area we climbed the Actual Mt Eliza till we got to a sign saying no further access (about ¾ of the way up) due to breeding time. We spent more than an hour watching the birds and trying to take pictures. Then we headed back. The return, with rests, took 65 minutes. In total we did three climbs of about 140m and three descents of the same and a total track distance about 4.2km. Later in the Afternoon we went to the “Birds of a Different Feather” talk by Phillipps. We talked about aviation things and he said that the Catalina Chronicle by David Vincent is in great demand and would be very valuable to a collector. I have a signed copy of that book.For tea we went to the Milky Way Cafe. Chris could only manage a salad as she hadn't been taking her medicine. She wasn't too happy about that. I had fish and chips, Uschi had a cold platter; prawns, oysters, fish salad etc. We sat outside on the bench tables under umbrellas. Another couple was there who were from Port Lincoln. They didn't know Yonk, even so it is a small world. The lady was born and bought up in Marino.