Closing in my boat tail
 

If you look at the three pictured I have posted you will see that The Herndon Boat Tail has a U shaped cavity to allow for visibility of the license plate from the rear of the vehicle. There is a support post which goes down to the the receiver hitch that passes in front of the the plate.

After making templates for my hinged boat tail for my boat tail I have concluded that a more optimal solution would be to panel in the the boat tail so I can remount the license plate on the back of the boat tail. There are a couple reasons to do this that would improve functionality of the boat tail.

First would be improved safety. I want to mount a set of trailer lights on the back of the boat tail and a license plate bracket with lights. These would be wired up to a plug that would hook up to my trailer plug on the rear of the truck. This would give me a second set of lights for the truck when operating with the boat tail.

Secondly this would clean up the air flow coming out from the underside of the truck. In conjunction with under body panels. In short I would then be getting the full benefit of the boat tail which I feel is compromised by this cavity on the bottom side of the boat tail.

Then I would want to retrofit a swing arm mount to the boat tail assembly to allow the thing to swing out of the way for easier access to the tailgate and the bed of the truck. Currently you have to remove the boat tail from the truck to access the tailgate which is no easy task and nearly impossible to do when you are alone.

The whole boat tail needs to be painted Tuxedo Black to match the Aerolid on the truck. currently the boat tail only has primer grey paint on it. Other mods might include a window above the license plate to allow the back up camera to see through the boat tail. While the view would be limited it would be better then the current view inspecting the interior of the boat tail.

Finally after all these mods I could then build my hinged boat tail panels for my boat tail. This project would then be simplified requiring only four panels instead of the current eight panels needed to panel around the cavity. These panels would then be all of the same length (22 inches or less) and only one problem remains.

The license plate assembly would be covered when the panels were folded in unless the parts of the panels that covered in were made of plexiglass. There are two solutions for this problem. One solution is not to fold them in when traveling at all and to only fold them in when the boat tail is in storage. The second solution ins to use plexiglass for the upper and lower panels if this is legal to do so?

legal to do so
 

John,some states forbid any covering of the rear license plate.Texas is one.
If the top and bottom panel lengths are equal to the height of the boat tails rear bulkhead,you might swing the lower panel down and under,away from the plate.
The upper panel might have to slide in like a cutting board in a kitchen cabinet/metal desk sliding shelf
http://images1.cableorganizer.com/mi...MA-SSHD-28.jpg

Road Brake HP for Ford F-150 with and without Aero
 

Miles per Hour/Miles per Gallon/and Horse Power Table for Ford F-150 Eco Boost Crew Cab 4X4
MPH MPG RPM Temp Baro Wind H P RBHP Notes
40 36.5 1050 83 F 877 - 14.9x.893 13.3 - AC off
40 32.5 “” 82 F 877 - 16.7x.893 14.9 - AC on
45 30.4 1100 84 F 877 - 20.1x.893 17.9 - AC off
45 29.2 “” 84 F 877 - 20.9x.893 18.7 - AC on
50 29.0 1200 83 F 877 - 23.4x.893 20.8 - AC off
50 26.5 “” 84 F 877 - 25.6x.893 20.9 - AC on
55 27.0 1400 86 F 877 - 27.7x.893 24.7 - AC off
55 26.5 “” 83 F 877 - 28.2x.893 25.2 - AC on
60 23.4 1500 75 F 871 - 34.8x.893 30.1 - AC off
60 23.0 “” 75 F 871 - 35.4x.893 31.6 - AC on
65 22.0 1600 84 F 877 - 40.1x.893 35.8 - AC off
65 22.3 “” 86 F 877 - 39.6x.893 35.4 - AC on
70 20.0 1700 84 F 877 - 47.5x.893 42.4 - AC off
70 20.5 “” 83 F 877 - 46.4x.893 41.4 - AC on
75 17.0 1800 60 F 883 - 59.9/.893 53.5 - AC off
75 16.7 “” 75 F 871 - 61.0/.893 54.5 - AC on
80 15.1 1950 32 F 27.99 - 71.9/.893 64.2 - AC off
80 18.2 “” 48 F 27.75 - 59.7/.893 53.3 - Aero
85 13.2 2050 32 F 27.99 - 87.4/.893 78.1 - AC off
85 16.2 “” 44 F 27.75 - 71.3/.893 63.6 - Aero
MPH/MPG = Gallons X 6.138 = LBS of fuel/0.452 (burn rate per HP Hour) = HP x 0.893 = Adj. HP Truck weighs 6,120 LBS and has 35.763 Sq Ft Frontal Area, Cd. = .402/.30, CDA = 14.377 /10.7

Notes from my trip from Radium Springs, NM to Little Rock AR to pick up the Herndon Aerolid and Boat Tail. Only 80 MPH and 85 MPH data shows the truck with and without the aerodynamic appliances. The high speed data was some of the most significant data we gathered.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-ae...hil-knox-i.jpg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-ae...le-rock-ar.jpg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-ae...unted-boat.jpg

Does the boat tail swing down on the hitch adapter similar to a bike rack?
What is the current process to access the rear of the bed?
Is it possible to modify the boat tail so you can git better access into the bed?
Does the attachment of the boat tail require the tail gate to be in place?
Does the aero cap require the tail gate?
Can the tail gate be removed in lieu of the boat tail?

I'll be traveling out yer way during the first week of February. Maybe we could meet up fer a few? ;)

answers
 

The answer is currently the only way to access the bed is to remove the boat tail. The tail gate is normally on. Yes, I would be delighted to meet up with you in February. Email me at jgilkiso@hotmail.com

Templates
 

Looks like my plan is coming together. Once you have a plan and know what you want to do it is easier to pull it off usually. I am going to buy a trailer light kit and hopefully a license plate holder and light kit for the boat tail. After painting, installing the lights, I will start paneling in the boat tail. This is the near term goal. I would like to post pictures but I have no clue yet how to post them. How do you create a URL to even post them?

http://20150103_140743http://20150104_113344

cardboard mock ups of boat tail problem.

pictures
 

*If you post them directly,the file size has to be reduced to around 157 kB in PHOTOSHOP,then exported.
*I went ahead and opened a Photobucket account and it allows very large files,and thousands of them.From there,after you're on a particular image,it's easy to send them over to Ecomodder.
*Once you have 5-posts,I think you're okay for posting photos.You should be there by now.

I have created a photo bucket account and put the photos in it. I can not figure out how to find the url of any given photo and trsnsfer it to ecomodder?

pics
 

*Log into your Photobucket account
*Click on Library,wait for activity to settle.
*Click on the image you want (you'll see a symbol resembling a gear appear)
*When after a few moments and things settle down,click on IMG at the bottom of the box to the right.You'll see the box turn yellow and it will say 'copied.'
*Then leave the Photobucket window and go back to Ecomodder and your thread.Get to where you want to have the image and then press Ctrl,and keeping the key down,also press V.
*You'll see all the URL code gobbledeegook displayed.
*When you click 'Submit Reply' your photo will appear.
*It's easier than it sounds!:)