Your experience and info is invaluable.
THANKS.
Dave
CYEL
Statistics: Posted by huronflyer — Sun May 04, 2008 10:45 am
]]>
The narrow gear Lazair works well on factory floats... the mounting method has the most give of any float mount on any plane ever put on floats. The factory floats are light as the plane has little power... and so they are delicate. they also have a very good shape to get such a low power plane on step and airborne.
I have close to 1000 hours of time on floats... and have had every Lazair on floats and a have sunk two.... still alive.. had one breath of air and a few seconds to know.. before submerging from cracked floats... escape meant getting two seatbelts off underwater, clearing the cockpit without getting stuck... this cat has used a few lives... am hoping I was given 9 to start with.
Bill
So.. my mods to factory... reinforce step... added bailing ports above step, carry a hand bilge and bilge prior to all takeoffs. Homebuilt pilots are test pilots and full time researchers... and should be constantly looking into the whole planes flaws, wear points, stress areas.. abused areas.. used areas...
Dale has a nice monofloat with wheels Lazair...
I flew a two seater on floats off Puddlejumper floats... the floats were junk. the wheel landing system was barely strong enough to hold the plane while not moving and with no passengers let alone in motion... and under the stress of landing and landing area roungh ground. Junk.. the foam sandwiched fiberglass they were made of got soft on me after two flights... To sum up... no flights made on wheels... a few made on floats... nice one person... max weght to get airborne was two people at 170 pounds each.
Statistics: Posted by Bill — Sat May 03, 2008 9:15 am
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
Like i said in emails i sent you, Weight will be your enemy.
I am not saying that is cannot be done. But If i was you I would mount what you got on first and try it. You will notice a big differance in performance.
Amphibs on a lazair like any plane will hurt performance further.
You said you not near water ? Well here is what i did once a bout 25 year ago for a buddy. I got him to land in a gravel pit near me with his ser 1- retrofited to 185s from pioneers. I brought the floats in trailer. We put the lazair on floats and in the water. It worked well but we both then weighed about 130 lbs.
Now to add gear on then might have worked. but now at 210 -- yikes
Personally i would find a place near water where you could do the same before i went to all the trouble to make amphb gear.
One simple idea would be make it a taildragger with retractable mains. you might even get away with a wheel that only hung below the float less than an inch inside a wheelwell.
Another is larger engines.
PS: in your country you can take off in a bay to find at other end 130 foot hemlocks plus rising terrain. On a summer day a heavy lazair with 185s might climb at 100 fpm.... so you figure it out at 30 mph how long it will take to clear 400 foot obstacle. 2 miles ?
Hope that helps
Statistics: Posted by xgary — Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:21 am
]]>
Just one is cracked and beat up, so we will only need to repair one.
Though I will have my friend inspect both
AND I want bulkheads and sailboat/float access holes for pumping.
One guy at "Lazairforce" added storage compartments mid-ships.
As I posted at the other sites: my props are the P-Tips, which perform
very well, BUT they are WOOD. So they will need to be watched.
drh
Statistics: Posted by huronflyer — Fri Apr 13, 2007 7:55 pm
]]>
He has me thinking about mounting my ldg gear on the inboard side of the floats. At first blush I thought "Oh no narrow track!"
but it may not be much more narrow than series three. I will need to think about it more. Perhaps wider spreader bars.
It is an easier installation in some ways.
His other idea though is to have small trailing wheels, i.e. tail-dragger, instead of nose wheel...this is a whole new thought.
When we get the floats fixed I would like to bring them to North Bay, for my first test, just to have expert advice.
My wife said are you going to get some experience... I would like to get the feel of a float plane mounting the step and the sense of attitude for landing. Fortunately here its not busy and there is lots of lake to taxi on. I think though before we mount landing gear its important to see how it taxis and short hops with floats on.
Disassembly is a bit of a pain. There may be a friend who will allow me to tie down at his cottage...
There are no marinas or tie downs on Elliot Lake, with the exception of two commercial operations; whether they and the city would cooperate is moot at this time.
drh
Statistics: Posted by huronflyer — Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:49 pm
]]>
Tyler you and Pete have been a great help.
Also, a homebuilder nearby has offered to help me with the glass portion.
Since he has a newly rebuilt homebuilt on amphib floats, he should be
helpful on rigging too.
Per your other letter I am leaning to a screw, down up rigging,
aka car screw jack, as its less likely to flip off a locking device.
I have worked out a mini transmission so mains fold back and
nose folds forward.
two levers would be quicker ans simpler though
First up float fix and mods.
drh
Statistics: Posted by huronflyer — Sat Apr 07, 2007 12:06 am
]]>
lots of pics on the net on ultralight amphib floats. no need to re-invent the wheel here. if you can't find any, i will forward you what i have on the subject.
puddle jumper is the most widespread, but not the lightest i fear.
simplest in my mind is the pivoting main gear that operates through one of the rear spreader tubes, and a nose gear that pivots on the front spreader tube. actuator - unknown. not hydraulic, but cleverly located and levered handle.
Tyler
B007 and A925
Statistics: Posted by JPXman — Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:46 am
]]>
I have a pair of "Ultraflight" floats that I bought just after I bought my
series III.
They need fixing having been cracked on the bottom.
It has been recommened that I put a few baffles in as a
safety retro. I am not restricted to Far Part 103; but I do want
to get off the water.
Secondly, it is imparative at this location to have amphib available to
get from the hangers to TO. Someday they may have a road to the
nearby lake - SOMEDAY is not now.
We have hundreds of lakes and virtually no fields, oh yah, millions of rocks and
billions of trees
So I hope to enlist the technical help of a local homebuilder who has experience with
fiberglass (Lancair).
BTW my biggest challenge is the ldg gear, upty up up and downsy down down; safe simple and light?
It would seem logical to have a tri gear & steerable...
Dave
C-IIII
Elliot Lake, CYEL
Statistics: Posted by huronflyer — Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:05 pm
]]>