Questions for those with boat-tails
 

I just wanted to ask some questions regarding boat-tails on a car.

I remember some discussion about how that since the tail end of your car is now longer, yet the wheelbase remains unchanged, your fulcrum point will cause your rear end to swing out when you make turns, hitting other cars and taking out small children in your path.

How bad of a problem is this in reality ?
When you merge into traffic, is it more difficult to maneuver ?

Do you find that you have a hard time finding a parking spot, or even pulling into normal size parking spots due to the awkward wheelbase situation ?

Do you have to think out where you are going to park before hand ?

What about backing into a parking spot, or the question everyone seems to joke about - parallel parking ?

What other problems have you encountered ?

When backing up, I have to pay more attention.

Parking, I usually pull nose first into the stall, so there is no change there. But backing in is very easy to do, especially when there is just grass behind the car.

I do not usually parallel park with this car, so no difference there.

Side winds have not changed the handling at all, that I can tell. The car still pushes the nose in high winds, and that is exactly the same as before.

Not exactly what you asked about, but really like the addition, as it makes the intent of the car very obvious to other drivers.

Jim.

Same here, mostly. I still do fit in a normal parking space, just. As with Jim's, mine tapers in on the sides so swing when turning isn't a real problem, one does get used to the extra length fairly easily. I have parallel parked a few times, once in front of the VT State DMV in Montpelier( no pressure there) and all was fine. If you've ever driven a pick up with the tail gate down and/or lumber hanging out the rear, it's like that. I've never felt that my tail was a safety issue except for the gawkers that fly by at 80+mph who act like they just saw Elvis. You do have to get used to driving with new strategies, but didn't we all do that after coming here? I sure did:turtle::D.

I've had a boattail installed on my car since 2006 and have driven close to 200,000 miles with it on the car.

Parallel parking and backing up are no problem since the enlarged interior of my car extends way back into the boattail. The rear of the interior is less than 2 feet from the tip of the boattail so I can use glances into the back of the interior compared to what I see out of the rear window to keep my distance perception when backing up.

My boattail narrows from side to side as well as from top to bottom so "wagging the tail" in a sharp turn isn't a problem.

My car, with boattail, is the same length as a Ford Explorer, so any parking spot large enough to handle a large SUV will fit my car.

In normal driving, I can drive as though the boattail wasn't there. Its a bit more sensitive to crosswinds than it used to be, but I've driven other vehicles that were much worse in a crosswind.

Just wanted to add something here : I hope my questions don't sound like I'm being disrespectful.
Now that my car is running again, I'm actually thinking of copying you guys.

I don't foresee myself actually doing it though.

Glad to see your civic is up and running again

I found 4 or 5 images on google images of the tuft tests you did a few years ago. Seems to me there was a few more that I lost. Do you still have any of those? Great stuff for anyone with a civic hatch like me

I did that test with around 10 seconds worth of video. The video is nearly useless because of all of the shaking . I'll PM you some time this week if I can find it.

I intended to test a cardboard Kammback , but rain was on the way, so I just left a piece of it to see the flow in that area.

It started to rain seconds after the pictures were taken.

With my tail I will say the same as the others, you get use to it in days and its not an issue. for me the added visibility in the back makes backing up easier ( I can see the end of the car now). Parking is a non issue, I grew up on a 15 passenger van. This is a piece of cake compared with that.

Jim, Do you have pictures of your Honda Insight?

See the first page and some of the last pages on this thread :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-13533-40.html

Build pics are somewhere inbetween ;)

I have been pricing materials for a boattail, and this stuff is expensive !

$ 22.44 for one piece of aluminum bar 1/4"x1"-8' at Lowes.

Mike, how many feet of the stuff did you use ? Where did you buy it ?

Lexan is $69.98 for a piece 36"x48 .085 thickness.

Lowes does not carry flat sheet metal, but has small rolls of aluminum at $16.98 for 20"x10' .( Twenty inches wide means i would have to stitch together lots of strips ! )

Where is the best place to get flat sheet metal cheap ?

After looking around, i started to wonder if i could use some backer board for showers called FRP or Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic versus sheet metal, but it's $32.47 for a piece .090 thickness and 4'X8' . It is also very heavy.
FRP breaks easily when bent.

Another alternative could be a sheet of Formica, used on countertops . It is water resistant, flexible, thin and light, but has ( almost razor ) sharp edges when it breaks and is $42 for a 4x8 sheet . It also breaks easily

A sheet of 1/8" 4'X8' panel board is $11.87 , and when primed might not swell up with moisture . ( the stuff is basically pressed cardboard though )

I looked for the foam like ThreeWheeler used, but the Lowes i was at doesnt carry it. The only foam board they have is 1/4 " thickness sheets of the stuff sandwiched in between foil.

Ideally, id like to use the foam board, since i would be able to carve it and do radiused edges. Any advice here ?

fiberglas cloth is $6.64 and a quart of resin is $17.04 .

I didn't even price Bondo, since i loathe the stuff and just automatically look past it. ( my Camaro had gallons of the stuff )

Rivets are $5.28 for a box of 50. I suspect i would need several boxes.

Tail light from a junk yard could be anywhere from $30 to over $ 100 and then i i have to figure in the cost of wiring harnesses to eh ?

Also, I have to wonder how you guys put together your tails without a helper. I would be trying to build this thing alone.

I'm currently living in an apartment that allows you to rent out an 18' garage for $75 a month, so im adding this to the cast as well.

Don't buy metal at lowes.
Quick google turned up this :
Metals4u metals distributor - stainless steel, aluminum, brass, pipe sheets, tubing Austin, San Antonio, Dallas TX
Also, call Austin Metal and Iron and see what they can tell you. I buy recycled or surplus materials any chance I get.

Or, use dow corning square edge XPS foam, get it from a distributor of you need to. Do not use polyester resin, it will melt the crap out of it!
Fiberglass supply and resin:
http://www.raka.com/epoxy_kits.html
Epoxy costs, but does not react with your base material.

Click on the warehouse specials link.

Lowe's is super expensive for aluminum. At the time I got most of my aluminum at McMaster-Carr. Much cheaper than Lowe's (about half their price). But since then I have found that Aircraft Spruce is even cheaper for aluminum.

Current prices
4' x 4' sheet of .040" thick 6061 aluminum
Aircraft Spruce $38 (part#03-30540)
McMaster $137 (part# 89015K82)
Sheets available in sizes up to 4' x 12' at Aircraft Spruce

1"x1/4" 6061 aluminum bar
Aircraft Spruce $1.15 per ft, (part# 03-46300)
McMaster $16 per 6' piece (part# 8975K24).


I got my Lexan at at Piedmont Plastics, a local plastics supply house, but don't know their current prices.

I used 1/8" thick Lexan and about 40 feet of aluminum bar.

Thanks Bassjoos ! I was looking over the extended trunk/boot/ cargo area you built.
Really well made and looks as though it could hold up a lot of weight.

Did you have help when you built it, or was it all creative use of vice grips and such to hold things in place ?

The luggage shelf was built very strongly (and consumed about half of the 40 feet of bar used) as it had to hold luggage and it serves as an anchoring point for the rest of the boattail. The shelf can hold my full weight without any deflection. The boattail is still as solid today as it was when I built it despite many miles driven on washboarded gravel roads (and a partial rebuild after being rear ended). I built it in my backyard all by my lonesome using clamps as needed to hold intersecting bars together until I could drill and tap screws into place.