BIG Tail
I overdo things - that's me. To that end I've got a perspex shower door - one of those that is half a door width wise. This I am fashioning into a tail - it will be painted so no one will ever suspect. I've concocted a piece of square tubing to fit solidly onto the mast and it is extended by an aluminium weedeater shaft that I picked up at the salvage. The door will be cunningly attached by small aluminium tubes to the shaft.
It will have a huge area and it will be light. It will also be smooth on the same side as the offset of the turbine to the mast. The small tubes and fittings will be on the other side. This is not a casual decision as I learnt by my son's experience that faster moving air has a lower pressure than slower moving air so there will be a pressure on the tail to counteract the offset.
As an aside. A long time ago, my son is 40, the passenger door of his Cessna swung open on take-off. He was grounded for a couple of months for that and now it's always a big palaver about door checking before he will release the brake and start his run. In my case he now leans over me and locks it himself. The door swung open and "locked" about half way open due to aerodynamics. The rushing air over the door caused a low pressure on the outside relative to the still but high pressure air of the cabin. The weight of the air against the door tried to close the door so there was a point where the two opposing forces balanced and there the door STUCK ! He knew immediately what was happening and didn't waste time or energy trying to close the door (which would have been impossible), he declared an emergency and concentrated his mind and energy trying to land safely which he fortunately did.
So armed with this knowledge I am going to force the turbine to stay in the wind. Let's see where this all leads. I suppose I am about to learn why tails should not be fixed and why they should not be too BIG !!!
The current tail will be carefully stored - just in case !!!