Moving to the hangar

We’ve been struggling to get the house packed and one of the big items to move to Nashua was the fuselage. Ellen and I bribed my brother-in-law Jon and his girlfriend Stefanie to help us get the fuse out of the shop.

Rolling out

I had been braining out a good way to transport the fuse up to Nashua. Some builders use a large U-Haul truck, but they’re expensive and typically don’t have a ramp that’s wide enough for the RV’s gear.

On a whim I called Mal’s, a local car towing company and asked what they’d charge for a flatbed car tow/transporter truck. Turns out it wasn’t significantly more expensive than a U-Haul truck, and the entire bed tilts back to make it easy for loading…so I booked Mal’s.

Mal's truck

Mal’s truck and driver showed up right on time. Our street is slightly narrow and we’re on a cul-de-sac, so the driver had to do some maneuvering to get the truck in place.

Push me, pull you

With the ramp down, loading the fuse was a non-event.

On the trailer

I was pretty apprehensive about what the truck driver would to do secure the fuse on the truck, but Steve from Mal’s was an ace…he had just the right tiedowns for the job, and knew where to secure everything without damaging the fuse. We couldn’t have been happier. I think he was pretty jazzed to be moving an airplane…

On the wayI rode in the truck with Steve, and Jon, Ellen and Stefanie followed in a car. Jon took this picture at a stoplight in Burlington…pretty neat!

On the road

We got a few looks from other drivers as we trekked up Route 3 to Nashua. I kept a close eye on the fuse, but there was no need to worry – it barely moved an inch.

In the hangar

Ellen and I were psyched to see the fuse in its final shop space. For the first time in the 10 years we’ve been building, all the RV parts are in the same place at the same time.  Cool…

In the hangar pocket

The rear of the hangar will be my primary shop space. The fuse is a good fit, and I’ll have plenty of space to maneuver when the Archer is in the front of the hangar.