No progress. Midwinter escape to Queenstown.
Gratuitous eye-candy
Despite the best efforts of the courier to deliver the propeller to a non-existent street (apparently ignoring the address on the label) it has finally arrived at Thompson Aeronautical. Brent assures me that the damage is very minor indeed and easily fixed.
Discovered a local auto & marine electrician, a veritable Alladin's cave of Useful Items.
Acquired three toggle switches (same design as the CPS-supplied ignition switches), matching rubber boots for all five, and a big red LED in a chrome bezel for the master alarm.
Otherwise - no progress. It has been dark overcast here for days and our solar array isn't generating enough power to run even the fridge... let alone additional lighting in the shed.
Mounted the master alarm LED - mainly as an act of defiance against the weather and to make *some* (any) progress. There is semi-continuous rain and water everywhere.
What we don't want to see in flight
The last few evenings have been spent moving and recommissioning (jury rigging) our disused 12 volt solar installation in (and on) the cottage/workshop, and this morning it is generating power. In addition to providing enough reserve to let me keep working from home (kind of important) - in theory at least I've got 500 watts available for lighting in the evenings. I never, ever want to have to move those batteries again.
Some pruning needs to happen.
Have heard back from Brent - the propeller is fixed. And the total cost of the repair, including freight back to me, is LESS than what I paid to get ship the propeller down there originally :)
Started on the right-hand stabiliser; same process as the left - cut off the leading edge and replace with a nice curvaceous layer of chopped strand mat. The second and final layer will be the woven fibreglass cloth.
