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 Since the FireFly is very light, it is important to tie it down when it is on the ground and exposed to the wind. I have room to carry tie downs in my luggage compartment, but I was having trouble with them getting tangled. I would wrap them in a light jacket to prevent the stakes from poking the fuselage fabric. I cut a coil off the dog stake so that it was short enough to go crosswise in the front luggage compartment. To prevent the sharp tips from piercing the fabric, I cut the top out of pop can and the sharp ends were slid into the can. The individual ropes became tangled too, and I discovered one rope per can. The lids are the bottom of other pop cans. Then I made flannel tube socks to put them in. The tubes were made too long and this lets them be folded over so the contents will not spill or work their way out. As result, everything stays were it is supposed to and nothing gets tangled or poked.
 I shortened the stakes an additional amount to reduce their overall weight. A piece was cut out and the top and bottom cuts were brought together and butt welded. Before welding a short sleeve was slid over the stake rod. After the butt weld was ground down, the tubing sleeve was slid over the butt weld area and the sleeve was welded to the rod top and bottom. 
Update - June 14, 2006 The total weight for all the parts, covers, and sacks is three pounds - two ounces. If one is good at knot tying, one can save a pound by discarding the ratchets and metal hooks. If the ground is hard it can be difficult to screw hold-downs into the ground. If this is the case, I use one hold down slipped through the hoop of another so it can be used as a lever. The problem is that you come up one short and can't screw in the last one. What I do is screw in the tail hold down first and then carefully unscrew it. Next I put the wing hold-downs in the ground. Then I screw the first one back into place by hand. The tail hold down has to do the least amount work. The hold-down ropes have little ratchets attached to one hook. The name on them is "Rope Ratchet" and they can be found at various retailers. |