The replacement boom tube saga. Has anyone ever manged to get a new one?

[smokey487]

Hi All

i have chatted to many drifter drivers past and present and the issue of replacement tubes has come up at some stage.
Has anyone actually managed to find a replacement?

rare as hens teeth it would seem i know a few "oh yeah its just irrigation pipe ect" but still no hard leads on a supplier.
I do know that before wayne past he was also having issues getting them.
 

has anyone got any leads?
Here in australia seems like nil nope and nada but even the states seems difficult to find.

Alternative to a full length is half with a join not ideal but i know it has been done and the planes with it have hundreds of ours with no issues.
 

Just hoping i might get a few more old birds flying with a new fuselage tube.

 

Cheers

[Thruster88]

I know where there is a good supply of fuselage tubes for Thrusters, they are 4 inch od, not sure of the Drifter size.

[smokey487]

unfortunately not they are 5"

 

[Thruster88]

OK, have you tried airport metals?

[smokey487]

44 minutes ago, Thruster88 said:

OK, have you tried airport metals?

Yeah no luck. 

[BrendAn]

On 06/06/2025 at 1:21 PM, smokey487 said:

Yeah no luck. 

how long is a drifter fuse tube.

[smokey487]

Fairly sure it is 6m total The boom is maybe 5.4m.

128mm and 1.8/2 mm wall thickness also came across a 3mm thick walled one as well.

 

 

[facthunter]

The drifter construction is far More complex than A Thruster.  Nev

[BrendAn]

6 hours ago, smokey487 said:

Fairly sure it is 6m total The boom is maybe 5.4m.

128mm and 1.8/2 mm wall thickness also came across a 3mm thick walled one as well.

 

 

I will pm you the number of the bloke that owns sapphire aircraft.

He is in Bendigo. I don't know if he will part with tube but there's a good chance he will. I don't think he is building sapphires now. He had 5 inch tube new.

[perrynz]

Hi Smokey. I built a Kolb aircraft a number of years ago. (Mid 90’s) The wing spars and fuselage boom were a 5” tube. Could be worth contacting them, as their aircraft design has been pretty much the same for ever. I have an off-cut if you wanted me to measure the wall thickness. (From memory it was 0.058”)

 

A quick google search shows that Wicks Aircraft has 6061-T6 in 5” x 0.065” 

R5X065-T6

5

0.065

4.8700

1.2030

ft

$44.09

Lengthft

Edited 9 hours ago by perrynz