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Redneck Rabbit Trail

Boy has it been hot it Texas this year!  It’s been so hot that Dan hasn’t flown much lately (he’s working on his PPL).  My plane is still in the shop getting both inboard tanks replaced, so we haven’t been flying the Viking either.  We got to talking about how hot it gets in the summer and I mentioned to him that we should do something about it.  I had seen an ice box cooler unit at Rocket Aviation in Plainview, where my Viking is having surgery, and told Dan we should build one for the Bellanca (and another for the RV).  He thought it was a good idea too, so we decided to create our own version of a redneck AC unit.  I ordered a few parts from Summit Racing (heat exchanger), stopped by Bass Pro for a bilge pump, and bought parts from Frys, Radio Shack, etc.  After gathering everything, we put a prototype together and found that it worked pretty well…

About a week later I was at Tina’s Pilot shop picking up an oral exam guide for Dan and mentioned the cooler to Tina.  She said she used to have someone that built them for her last year, but for some reason she was unable to get more of them.  I asked her if she would sell one on consignment for Dan if he built it and left it for display in her store.  She was very happy to do that and help him out.  When I told Dan about the conversation with Tina, he was so excited – he’s been looking for a way to make extra money for hockey this season.  He stopped playing hockey upon entering high school and played football (under our advice).  After skating with friends this summer, he told us that he really wanted to skate his senior year on an adult league – he REALLY loves hockey.  The deal was that he would need to pay for it.  Later this turned into playing for the high school hockey team instead of football.  That was a much more expensive decision for him  than he planned and it has stressed him a bit.  The icebox AC unit might just be the ticket to help him make $ for ice time.  Anywhoo back to the coolers…

We were unhappy with the look of the air intake slots we cut in the cooler.  The aluminum duct was also too redneck for us, but after all, we were just playing around.  We decided to make a second model and use bilge fans for more air flow.  We also redesigned the shroud and air intake mechanism.  Version 2.0 dropped the temperature about 30°F.  We were on to something here… We built a second, smaller, model for the RV too (Version 2.1) and eliminated air intake holes in the cooler by placing them all on the aluminum shroud.  It looks a lot better and will be the standard way he builds them going forward.  Dan dropped the new models off at Tina’s store and showed them to her. She said that he could keep it up at her store for demonstrations.  She’s such a great lady!

 
He came up with a name “Comfort Cabin” and made a brochure for Tina’s shop.  He’s also set up a website where you can get more information about the unit.  They are available for testing at Tina’s.  Just call her at 817-490-0046 if you are interesting in trying one out.  Any profit that Dan makes on these units will go toward his skating.  Any additional profit  will probably be split between the Veterans Airlift Command (or similar charity that support veterans) and some gas money.

-Dan here! Thanks so much for reading my post everyone, I’m really glad this whole air conditioning thing came to pass. It’s been fun building them with my dad, and now hopefully I can sell a few. Go ahead and send me an email at comfortcabinair(at)gmail.com if you’re interested, or just call Tina. I really do appreciate it all. I’ve gotta go build an airplane, talk to you guys soon!

Blue skies!

w

 

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