04-18-2009 (2 hours):
Today we flipped the plane over so I can install the mains. Flipping a Cozy is a big job best suited to 4-5 guys. I have round wooden supports to help with the job, but it's still very heavy and unwieldy (mine especially, because I have my strakes and turtleback on now!) To do the job with fewer people, we slung a rope and pulley up to the ceiling and tied it to the nose. I hauled on that while John lifted the actual Cozy and together we actually managed the job pretty easily - more easily than we had expected. Moving the sucker AROUND once we FLIPPED it was tricky, but we got the job done with a dolly under the nose and each us lifting one strake.
05/03/2009
Flipping the plane over is always a memorable event, and doubly so right now given that it weighs so much. Adding the mains gave it a bit of an awkward pivot point. John and I flipped it together, again using a pulley slung from the ceiling to help raise the nose. We were a little too busy to take pictures during the actual event! One interesting change is that the vertical position required a lot of force to hold up (the mains were trying to pull it over), but once we started letting it down, the force decreased significantly. The semicircles on the strake ends really do work!