Clayton Lennartz

The engine and Dashboard are in. Wires are run through the body & reconnected to the auxiliary plate. Nav lights, horn, etc are wired and tested. I’m ready to take the next step. I was planning to install the battery & auxiliary plate, then the reverse system, then the seats and controls.

See picture below. Questions below relate to it,

Is that where the battery box and auxiliary plate go? The manual and video show attaching the auxiliary plate with bolts with nuts inside the battery box. It seems carriage bolts from the inside of the box with the nuts/washers on the outside would be easier and cleaner. Any issues with doing it that way?

I disassembled the mechanical assembly and put the foam in correctly. I’m now getting started on the wiring and need some help/advice/pointed in the right direction. If this is in the manual, I’m not finding it, so maybe just pointing me in the right direction is all I need.

I’m working on putting in the dashboard, wiring the lights, etc. right now. I’ll get to the reverse thrusters, rudder, etc. later. So these questions are focused on that, but I don’t know what I don’t know, so if anything’s suspicious, let me know that also.

Running the harness down the port side inside the air duct. I assume it’s supposed to go through the loop about ½ way down and again through the loop by the rudder (up high). Correct? THIS IS CORRECT: ALSO LOOP THE HARNESS ON TOP OF THE BILGE PUMP OUTLET HOSE INSIDE THE DUCT AND USE A PLASTIC TIE TO SECURE THE HARNESS TO THE HOSE.

I have a 40” piece of ¾” corrugated loom in a bag (part 3799-01). No clue where that goes, but I assume it has something to do with the harness I’m getting ready to put in. Where does that go? IF YOU HAVE A SIDE X SIDE KIT THIS LOOM IS TO COVER ALL THE CONTROL CABLES AND WIRE FROM THE HANDLEBAR BACK UNDER THE SEAT ACROSS THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF THE FUEL TANK AND BEHIND THE FRONT SEAT.

Dashboard install. Looks like well nuts go into the dashboard and screws from the outside. I’ll remove those and replace them later when I put the cabin or windshield on. Correct? THIS IS CORRECT THINKING.

I have 3 pieces of foam about ¾ x 3/8, one long and 2 only about 6” long. (Removable dash hardware kit #6665, includes 2 screws and 2 well nuts) Where does that go? THE LONG PIECE GOES ALONG THE TOP EDGE OF THE INSTRUMENT PANEL BETWEEN THE INSTRUMENT PANEL AND THE BODY. THE OTHER TWO PIECES GO ON EACH END OF THE PANEL AND ARE TRIMMED TO FIT. THE SCREWS GO ONE ON EACH SIDE THROUGH EACH END OF THE PANEL AND THE BODY.

Horn: Looks like that mounts INSIDE the air plenum port side in front of the dash. My arms BARELY fit through those holes to hold it in place. Any ideas/tricks to put that in? YOU NEED HELP FROM A PERSON WITH SKINNEY ARMS AND THE HORN IS MOUNTED INSIDE THE FRONT AIR DUCT WALL ON THE PORT SIDE FRONT. WHEN THIS IS RIVETED TO THE DUCT WALL THE US COAST GUARD CERTIFICATION PLATE IS RIVETED OVER THE RIVET HEADS INSIDE THE FRONT COCKPIT AND COVERS THE HORN RIVET HEADS.

Planning to use polyurethane sealant “Sikaflex” to bond the vibration mounts and the air duct dividers.

Hull label. Two of them, but only instructions on where to install one. And the post-it with it says Hull # US-NUS0855TE222, but only US-NUS0855 is engraved on them. What am I supposed to do with those? I have a laser engraver, so I can add the remaining characters if they’re supposed to be on there. YES, THE TE222 MUST BE ADDED TO THE HIN # PLATE. LOOKS LIKE WE FORGOT TO STAMP THESE!! BOND ONE PLATE INSIDE THE THRUST DUCT HIGH UP THE BODY ON THE STARBOARD SIDE, USE SIKAFLEX TO BOND. THIS IS THE SECRET NUMBER HIDING PLACE. THE REAL NUMBER IS BONDED AND RIVETED TO THE TRANSOM UNDER THE STARBOARD BUCKET AND ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE EXHAUST OUTLET. I THINK THE INSTRUCTIONS EXPLAIN THIS.

I had a few weekends to work on my hovercraft and make some nice progress.

I got the machinery module and muffler installed. It went quite smoothly. Everyone’s advice of "slow and methodical" worked well. You can see my whiteboard in the attached photo with the stuff that I don’t want to deal with now, but REALLY don’t want to forget later.

I did pick up a couple of things. The wellnuts to attach the exhaust flanges/dress brackets to the hull kept pulling out without expanding correctly. I figured that it must be because the bracket trying to compress the steel wool was pulling the wellnut out by the threads because there wasn’t enough pressure on the wellnut flanges to allow them to expand correctly. I tried putting fender washers (1/8 ID x ¾” OD) between the wellnut flange and the steel wool. Those put enough pressure in the flange to allow the wellnut to expand. Basically, I put a 1 inch 8-32 screw through the flange & steel wool, put on (3) fender washers & just started the wellnut. Then pushed the whole thing into the 5/16 holes I drilled in the hull and tightened the screws. This worked great. It compressed the wellnut without spacing the flange out too far to keep the steel wool from sealing.

And: From the first photograph, you can see the adjustable mount I made for the muffler. I couldn’t figure out the spacer instruction in the assembly manual. I got a 5/16-18 threaded rod and some nuts and washers. This allowed me to adjust the muffler position to center it exactly in the center of the exhaust hole.

One product improvement that I would make: Drilling the wellnut holes for the exhaust flange was a pain. I had to locate through holes that were full of steel wool. If there was a template included with that kit it would be great.

Now on to the control system.

Sept 2022

I rebuilt the damaged during shipping rudder assembly. Thanks for everyone’s help.

Sanding the machinery module bell to get a good fit on the sides. I’m drilling all the way through the hull for the 4 machinery module vibration mount bolts.

Planning to use polyurethane sealant “Sikaflex” to bond the vibration mounts and the air duct dividers.

Have not had more than a few hours to work on it. The skirt strip is in place. I’m going to fit the motor during Thanksgiving time.

Finally got time to get back onto building my hovercraft. Body trimmed to fit the intake bell and the thrust duct is installed. Once Sikaflex dries on dividers I’ll finishing installing the machinery module. I’m not sure where all the foam pieces go but they appear to fit the machinery module. The long white "P" foam looks like it fits under the thrust duct rear mounting flange.