FROM: Noeline and Peter Carpenter
DATE: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 14:22:07 +1200
SUBJECT: South Pacific Hatz "Gold Rush"...NZ

After four years on our Hatz project we had our first flight a week ago on 21st March 2005. I am delighted with the performance and required only a tad of left on the rudder trim. We received our Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) and are now in the process of our mandatory 25 hour test flight programme required by our CAA (Civil Aviation Authority).

You probably will have noticed there is no registration showing as our CAA allowed dispensation in view of the colour scheme and being the only one in the South Pacific....so far!!!! CAA have be particularly interested in this aircraft and claimed we didn't need the registration painted on the side which is normally mandatory, they say the could catch us anywhere in NZ with such an identifiable colour scheme. However we do have an allocated registration of ZK- PEC for our radio communications.

The empty weight came out at 993 lbs., centre of gravity all okay (1195 lb. US - see Peter's Note below).

The leather work around both cockpits and headrests were remnants from a roll of leather that belonged to an elderly aunt of a friend (eventually emigrated to NZ) who made pilots flying helmets in Britain during World War II. The few remnants given to us by her grand-nephew still had the pattern cut-outs of the helmets and side straps. In view of the history of this leather it was quite precious to us for the project. My wife and I hand stitched the cockpit surrounds and Noeline machine sewed the headrests on her domestic sewing machine using round headed leather needles. There was just enough to complete the headrests & surrounds and the seating we did in a good durable royal blue fabric upholstery. click here for full resolution image

The propeller and Lycoming 0320 engine match runs as smooth as silk and with a modified crossover High Country Exhaust (extra 8HP...so they claim) has a very snappy sound. The propeller was made here in NZ from laminated American Ash by a friend of mine. click here for full resolution image

Our computer programme, on propeller design provided us with the best performance figures being a 48 x 72 inch propeller after much debate. We are achieving about 98MPH at 1000 ft per min. A couple of new developments made by us especially for the Hatz were an electronic fuse system with LED 'circuit out' indicating any fault. The other is an AOA system with vertical LED's five green, one red when reaching the stall angle, made from spare electronic parts - cost nil. Other points are, the rear seat shoulder part of the airframe was moved aft by three inches and the instrument moved forward two inches to allow far better instrument visibility. The secondary structure of the airframe was constructed to encompass the 150HP 0320 Lycoming by setting up temporary ply stations and lines as in boat building. The necessary bulkheads were fitted between as required. For the fuse strakes we used thin ¾ inch window joinery aluminium angle, this is anodized hardened aluminium keeping it's shape and strength well. We fitted five point Hooker Harnesses in both cockpits to stronger designed seats and supporting structure. In the rear cockpit we have two small gel batteries in easily accessible containers L and R of the seat to help maintain CofG. We used a high quality marine grade starter cable to minimise the voltage drop and is superior to any aviation quality we could find. Use of piano hinges on battery boxes and both engine cowls makes a big difference to engine and battery access.

The covering system used is the Poly Fibre process but we had the finishing paint, Federal yellow, especially made by Altex here in NZ because of the semi gloss finish we wanted and the flexibility required on fabric coverings.

You may be interested to know that the cover for the Hatz in the hanger is a part of a 4,500 sq.ft racing spinnaker we acquired from our Team New Zealand, Americas Cup Challenge Yacht, we cut only a quarter of it off to cover the plane totally. This keeps the resident nesting swallows and their chicks off the plane.

A big thank you to Ron Benell for his continued friend ship and help during various phases of this project.

Looking through the Hatz membership list, there does not appear to be any builders in the southern hemisphere so it would appear that maybe we may have a 'lone stork' down here.

Our kind regards Peter & Noeline Carpenter.

From Noline:
Thought I'd enclose a copy of an email & pictures that Pete sent to Jim Pinkerton who is just starting to spray Poly spray on his Hatz and asked about the weight of Pete's plane.... ( "I was wondering if the 993 lbs. was US or British? As I have not herd of a Hatz with a 0320 in it coming up this light. Most are around 1200#." )

Pete's email.... ......Yes you are quite right about the weight difference you mentioned. I should have converted the weight prior to sending the info to a number of people in the US. I think you work in Troy weight while ours is in Avoirdupois weight. How the US slipped away from the English system that was adopted in the fourteenth century may be because of the lucrative gold rush days as it was the system of weight for precious metals. Incidently the name of our Hatz is "Gold Rush"

If you multiply your 1200 lbs by the conversion figure 0.823 it will come out at 987lbs almost the weight of my Hatz at US 1195 US lbs.. Sorry about this . It must have got you thinking we were building in Magnesium or something! We are totally metric in NZ as with many other countries which has thrown a 'spanner in the works' for a lot of our young people contemplating the possibility of building kit planes from the US. If you start talking feet and inches it phases them in short time, they start looking at their feet or for a window or some other escape route. As a matter of interest I was a development engineer for an International Oil Co., now well retired which may have given me a bit of a head start for this project which is my second, the first being an Van's RV6A. I also owned the oldest Tiger Moth in NZ which came from the London Aeroplane Club in 1939 to train pilots for WWII. It won three restoration awards and is still flying after sixty six years.

We have had two trips to Oshkosh and had a grand time but would love to have our Hatz along with us to see what kind of results we would get. Thanks for your comments as well they are much appreciated by both of us.

Spraying a Hatz project is one of the bigger jobs and since I do everything myself if I can (and it has been with the Hatz) I have a couple of tips in the handling department that may help speed things up a little. To rotate the fuselage at the front while spraying I constructed a pivot point on the engine mount to suspend the fuselage with rope from the roof frame work of my workshop. The tail end was easy as the trestles worked well enough for the purpose. I was then able to rotate it as required within a couple of minutes and if you are going to get runs at all they will be on the curved cowl areas and round the stabilizer. You shouldn't get any with the PolyFiber process if you are patient with the first layer coats and allow them to set up a little before continuing.

One other point to be wary of is that you can get a mattish "Bloom" on the finished under sides of a wing or flat surfaces etc. with 'over spray' while making a great job of the top surface. Take care especially when spraying over the wing leading edges, which will be sprayed lying flat, not to go too far over the edge. I used a medium pressure ( 30-40psi ) spray gun with an opaque white top mounted paint pot which you cannot beat for this kind of work.

To be able to handle the fuselage easily for just an hour or two's work with a bit of steel is well worth it for the finish you will get. So here is what to do. First I left the engine mounts in place and used them to bolt on an "H" shaped mount horizontally . It was made out of flat 2"x 3/8" scrap steel. A single 3/4" bolt was then welded head first as a pivot point on the crossbar of the "H" frame work. Weld it at the best rotating balance point of the fuselage firewall. Fit a 6" deep "V" pulley on to the bolt with a few washers and a couple of nuts - one lock- to fasten it on. A suspension rope can then be passed round the pulley vertically with each side fastened to the workshop roof structure at the right height. The pulley will obviously not rotate so the rope can be secured to the pulley with some light cordage to make sure it won't jump off. The fuselage can then be rotated quite easily and stopped where required at any stage of spraying. I used two separate extra side ropes secured to the bottom left and right engine mounts at the firewall on up to the roof beam to anchor the fuselage where I wanted to stay. I secured them at the bottom because the whole front firewall end was masked prior to spraying with the adjustments left at the roof rafter ends, access by ladder. If you wish, or have a wide span roof a couple of 2x4 supports either side of the fuse (nailed) to help prop up the roof cross member may be advisable. An extra hand to help rotate fuselage will help the spray job a lot but keep him/her out of the way while spraying as the affects of the fumes cannot be over estimated. Even to dash in or out to help for a few minutes needs a mask! Don't even try without it!. Even with the best breathing gear you can buy you will know you have done a big paint job! Any builder should do it himself as he will invariably do a better job and be proud of the result. My first sprayed coat of vinyl, while drying, bought down a shower of spiders, insects and other creatures from the roof above which one would hardly be prepared for! This was the only time I needed the use of any significant amount of MEK to remove the rather disappointing start I hadn't expected. However a fly spray bomb and a couple of floor sweeps made sure of a better start.

Cleaning the surfaces with solvents can often be overdone and can be kept to a minimum by using spotlessly clean rags and keeping clean hands during all your working processes. These are often the cause of "Fisheye" spots through intermediate handling and over diligent cleaning of surfaces. It is better to carefully cover all work waiting it's turn and keep every thing clean especially your hands. Air tools such as drills, nibblers and riveters etc. consume and exhaust a lot of oil and should never be used at any stage of the painting process as they spread oil vapour into the atmosphere. Don't fix the lawnmower in between - you will get eye-balled as sure as eggs. Stick at it with this last finishing stage, albeit one of the biggest, until it is completely finished and make up to your wife later when it's all over - you will be glad and very pleased you did as I found out. This was virtually the finish of a wonderful project...

Pete

Hello again, we forgot to mention that we have chosen a name for our 'golden girl'.... "GOLD RUSH" ....and a 'rush' you will get flying her no doubt. Will keep in touch. Regards Noeline Carpenter

From Noeline:

Hello again, just a wee note to thank you for doing such a nice job of the website. Pete said he's more than happy to send the odd article to go into the newsletter if you would like, keeping in touch with what's going on down here in beautiful New Zealand, we think it's the 'Pearl of the Pacific'.

Thought I'd attach a couple of pics so you can see what our other favourite pastime was over the last 24 years. Pete designed & built our yacht, "Aspect of Arran " over a five and a half year period back in late '70's. She is built of NZ Kauri, and was launched in 1981. We had many many years of wonderful sailing in the Pacific, Tonga, Noumea, Fiji, Yasawa Isl's, Vanuatu and the many islands around them. We've travelled over 45,000 miles over the years and in 2002 we sold her to a lovely couple who plan on doing what we had done, sail the Pacific and visit her many Islands.