1994

Volume 1, Number 1, September 1995

The pages below are scans of our first newsletter, volume 1, number 1, pages 1 through 5, issued September 1994.

Volume 1, Number 2, November 1994

The pages below are scans of newsletter, volume 1, number 2, pages 9 through 14, issued December 1994. This particular newsletter is provided in both text and scanned formats. The text version appears below the thumbnails.

Please note that there is some page number disparity. In 1994, Dick Adams was publishing the letters on a bi-monthly basis. I believe that the newsletter above was the first one, and was for September and October. This one is probably from November and December. If any of you have other information, or if by chance you have pages 6 through 8, please, send them my way or let me know. Click on the thumbnails to see the full size page, and then use your browser "back" button to return here.

SEAWIND PILOTS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

Vol. 1.No.2 Page 9 November 1994

I am pleased to say communication is growing in the Seawind Net. This month we begin a series of articles on building tips and alternate approaches. For most of us there is quite a learning curve involved in this project and though we might build our second plane in 1500 hours there is no way in my experience that we could do it initially. This month we are concentrating on wing problems, next month the landing gear. Making it fit is at the heart of what building is about but our situations and experience differs and what is easy for some is not so for others...our contributors are Bob Darrah, Craig Easter and John Kivenko and Paul Array has sent us a letter on a few of his reflections from the point of view of a finished project . Bob and Betty Gustin wet our appetite for the Caribbean with an article on Los Roques and an open invitation to Seawinders to visit them in Costa Rica if you are planning trips in the area. JK raises the question of a Seawind parachute. Finally we have Euro news from Berndt Eggert and two new colleagues he has introduced to our club. Remember that the success of the letter depends on your participation. I am sorry not to reply to all your letters personally but our mini budget won't stretch. All major contributions that we print will be acknowledged however prior to printing just in case you change your mind. For those supporters so far many, many thanks.

FOR SALE

Two magnetos for sale; one for an ME 109 and one for a Fieseler Storch. Used but working fine. Any purchase money will be donated to SPA. Thanks Berndt.

IS THERE ANY INTEREST?

During my visit to Oshkosh I came across people who make the ballistically launched parachutes for small planes. To date they have not developed any for planes as heavy as the Seawind., however they have recently signed an agreement with Cirrus for the development of a parachute for their 2900lb plane. They are working on another chute for a plane of 3600lbs. Because of the location of the engine on the Seawind there are additional problems to overcome. I discussed this with SNA and Dick shows some interest in the topic. Possibly events since last spring will alert us to the advantages of such a device. A preliminary estimate of the cost should be in the 10-15 thousand dollar range. Even though there are many accidents where a chute will not help you, clearly there are some where it would be invaluable. I would like to hear arguments pro and con. It would be particularly helpful if we could have a response from those who definitely would buy such a device and those who definitely would not. In this way we would see if there is sufficient interest for Dick to start discussions with the suppliers. (John Kivenko)

CONSTRUCTION TIPS

The biggest building tip is to keep glass and resin to a minimum. Rather than making it stronger, make it lighter. This is especially important in the tail and aft fuselage. Check with Dick Silva before you do it but consider leaving the control surfaces until later when lighter ones may be designed.

Wings: I used a heavy steel bar (3/4" x 2") to hold the skin while gluing. That way you get an even joint instead of a warped one using clamps. If the fuel cap on the main tank is in the last compartment rather than the second from the end then it is easier to see and repair the leak between main and auxiliary. Another way to stop leaks between tanks is to inject resin with a needle through the skin...a big pain in the neck !

(Comment: We were fortunate in that this seal was 100% but the point is well taken (RA))

Finally, be sure to install the new version of the water rudder. The old one did not work very well in the Haliburton Seawind (200HP) and I could not get it to work well in mine. I helped design the new one and it works well. Buy it from SNA and install it,it is worth the price. (Paul Array)

There is a manual glitch in details on mounting the landing light lens. The holes should be 9/64 inch in diameter. Kit 7 - Flight Controls, page 73. If the holes in rib B and rib F are cut as shown, the pulley bracket mounting holes will be in the part cut out. Earlier instructions called for these holes in rib B and F only to be to be 1/2 by 1 instead of 1 by 2 as now instructed. The smaller hole works just fine.

Bob suggests as a general hint that instead of using glue cartridges to use a Zip-lock freezer bag (not a sandwich bag). Put some adhesive in the bag, zip it up, cut a corner of the bag off and squeeze the adhesive out of the corner as if you were decorating a cake. The advantage is that it only takes one hand to dispense the glue. (Bob Darrah)

This contribution is on fairing the leading edges of the wings, our largest filler volume but the application is general. Our supplier in Canada recommended we purchase Q cells and mix it with 411 resin to make fairing putty. This mixture is much cheaper than the Microlight-epoxy putty, it makes an product that dries more quickly (typically an hour) and sands well. The Q cells are twice as heavy as the microlight and the resins are of similar density , then it follows that the Q cell putty will be about 15% heavier but more than 50% cheaper. Areas such as the leading edge of the wings where massive amounts of fairing are required due to the relatively large volumes to fill and the large amount lost sanding down between layers results in very significant savings. Should one feel that the epoxy surface is harder then it adheres well to the Q cells and could be a final surface.

An alternate method to using large amounts of putty is as follows.

i) A three foot fibreglass form of the required shape of the leading edge is built of two-ply.

ii) The form is clamped to the leading edge.

iii) A mixture of poly urethane foam (two component) is poured into the mold.

iv) The form is then moved along the edge repeatedly until the wing is completed.

v) the foam is then lightly trimmed to remove imperfections and covered with two plies of cloth overlapping onto the wing by one inch.

vi) Finally any imperfections would be eliminated by using fairing putty.

I have found the above to work. I made my own form but the overall materials cost were even better than the Q cells approach. I used 6lbs/cu ft. foam and feel we have saved significant weight over the filler methods. (John Kivenko)

The following comments refer to the pages in the Kit 7 Manual.

P12 third para: all boomerang hinges must go outboard of ribs. Shown in figure but words earlier might make it more useful.

P18 There are no marked trim lines on the bulkheads, suggest making templates.

P21 The after spar attachment is not possible on some of the earlier kits due to the wing-fuselage gap being less than 1.2 inches. One solution is to make a new aft spar plate and locate the AN6-12A bolt inside rather than outside the hull. External angle brackets can be trimmed back to fit the gap

P35 Make sure the high density foam inserts are at the proper WL 34.7 to CL and are level so mixer and flap controller will align with them.

P40 Another suggestion: make templates from full scale wing drawings. Attach them to ribs B & J using a long sanding block across all ribs and then sand to fit.

P46 How much wing/sponson joggle to remove ? About 3/4 inch needed. Install the aileron to determine the proper distance. (Also the sponson angle to wing is not given. This can vary by up to 6 degrees depending on the joggle cutoff-RA)

P55 When installing strainer receptacle ensure that you have room to rotate the fitting without hitting the spar and that the drain does not interfere. Needs to be at least 1 1/4 inches forward of spar.

P58 Locate vent tube inlet under spar flange so resin cannot enter hole when you bond wing together.

P60 The flapper will wear and possibly deteriorate in performance. Suggest a system using no movable parts. Place 3/4 inch PVC tubing from rib B to within 3 inches of rib A right along bottom of main spar. Block the rib B hole in front. During slip fuel should be trapped in ribs A-B.( Note: such flows will only occur on a non-coordinated turn Dick Silva )

P62 Keep sensors up high to prevent cables from contacting probe.

P63 Install the fuel sensor so you do not have to bend the tube mount from rib A. Rib then supports end so it does not move around and possibly give erratic reading. (Might also be lightly taped at bottom RA)

P72,73 Drawing 7-6 Typical hole OK for ribs A, C, D & E, but too big for ribs B & F. they need be only one inch. For detail "A" drill from outside and use a dimension of 3.75 instead of 3.6..this will keep one from hitting the shearweb.

P76 The CL of the wing is easy to locate on the drawing but difficult to lay out. Suggest use full scale template to get CL dimensions. The AN#-4 bolts should have their heads aft to clear the aileron. The main bolt for the aileron bellcrank should go head down to make bellcrank removal easier at a later date.

P77 Figure 3. One cannot put a square on the bellcrank it is not flat! ( Place the square over the bellcrank and eyeball it to +- ten degrees-Gus) There is no location given for the 3/16 alignment hole.

P78 Might also mention other wires such as pitot heat, fuel quantity indicators, trim tabs, fuel pumps and stall warning indicators.

P86 Cutting the top skin. No data only drawing.( Middle of upper centreline joggle.-Gus)

P94 The wing tie down interferes with the control cable hole with the dimensions given. (Move it back or trim the flange-RA)

P105 There is no hole outboard of rib E to get nuts on fitting. Suggest bore a hole in the end to accept a snap plug.

P113 Trim the wing trailing edge as necessary. In the flap area trim to within 4 inches of rear spar, in the aileron area to within 2 3/4 inches of same. It is possible to assemble the flap upside down by making a board that is 1 3/8 inches on the short side with an 18 degree angle. This allows you to bolt the brackets in place before the resin kicks.

MEMO FROM PAUL ARRAY

I noticed Don Wolf is going to sketch the oil filter and send it to Brackett. I have done this the filter # for the Seawind 3000 is Brackett # BA-199E.

NOTES FROM BERNDT EGGERT

Berndt has two more members for the SPA. They are Michael Huettemann and Manni Schridde. He writes that Michael has his Diploma on the Zoche Diesel engine. He is interested to gather people from the Dornier Seastar to make suggestions for making components lighter plus constructing mounts for the Diesel. Manni is a Lufthansa pilot and is interested in the Seawind. Berndt sends us news of a Cessna flight he has recently done over Sweden/Norway. Lots of mountains and lakes and glaciers in this region...quite a trip. Berndt's Seawind is just about completed so the next time well be able to have you compare the two.

AILERON CABLES AND WING REMOVAL

The basic system aileron cabling has the right hand turnbuckle on the vertical cable midway between the floor and the upper middeck pulley and on the left side on the middeck crossover cable. In order to remove the wings it is necessary to pass the clevis attached to the wing cables through the upper middeck glassed in pulleys, that is to disassemble the pulley from the mounting. This is a major operation as one of the shaft nuts has not been glassed and rotates on trying to remove the pulley. It was necessary to unglass the pulley in this case. If the turnbuckles were mounted in the wheel pockets between ribs A and B in the wings, the cables could be separated with no further modifications. It is not possible at present to do this as the cables are a foot or two too short. If one is worried about it being a dirty area they can be simply shielded with a sleeve. The other alternative is to remove both wing pulley sets but this will result in a wing removal time of hours rather than minutes. Comments please-RA

FUEL LINE FITTINGS

The Manual does not mention the angle to swage the fuel line fittings. We are told that aircraft fittings are 37 degrees and automotive 45 degrees. The swaging tool we bought from M & E is the 45 degree one. The inner/outer fuel pumps look like 45 degrees. Question : can one ignore the angle difference i.e., will it be taken up by an extra turn of the screw so to speak. Clarification required. Subsequent discussions have convinced us that the correct angle has to strictly adhered to. We therefore need two swaging devices-RA

LOS ROQUES

This is a group of cays about 100 miles north of the coast of Venezuela and is a Venezuelan possession. It lies N 11 degrees 50 minutes and W 66 degrees 45 minutes approximately and we visited there by boat during our 2 1/2 years of cruising the Caribbean area. This has been voted one of the best twenty spots in the world as a get away place. We did not go ashore but I would refer you to the Venezuelan Dept of Tourism for further info. I understand that there is an airstrip on Grande Roque; and it would be advisable to plan to use the strip rather than land on the water. This area is one where the NE trades blow 15-20 knots almost all the time and a landing in the open ocean is not likely to succeed when seas are running 4-8 ft. in normal times! The entire group is surrounded by a fringing reef which may give acceptable conditions within. There are several houses owned by fishermen but there is a tremendous marine and bird sanctuary which is "protected" by the government. Not too many sailboats visit this area as it is a very difficult return trip to Cumana which is 165 miles to weather. We made it back in 29 hours with seas ranging to 12 ft. It is about 300 miles due west of Granada (all open water) and if you fly down the island chain (windwards) and depart from Granada you should have a 20kt. tailwind. This IS NOT A SUNDAY AFTERNOON PICNIC SPOT ! You'll need a visa which can be obtained in Granada at the Venezuelan consulate.

There are many places "down island" to be visited. I hope someday that there could be a get together in that part of the world with all the Seawind group. I know plenty of places...all the major islands have airports. Personally I want to fly to Costa Rica where we have a winter home...if I can get my act together. You are all invited. Bud and Betty Gustin)

OBSERVATIONS

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From September 4 to October 15, the fuselage, painted undercoat grey was put outside in an E,W direction. There was no cover over the canopy. The period in Canada was sunny but daytime temps typically were in the seventy five to eighties (shade). The temperature on the surface of the fuselage could have been 90-95 degrees farenheight. At the end of this time, the canopy on the south side had expanded at the springs 1/2 " and on the north side 1/8 ". Know why it is important to keep to white paint for standing in the sun! (Dick Adams)

NEW MEMBERS

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GUSTIN, PO Box 87 (215) 855-2366 (H)

Bud & Betty Montgomeryville, PA (215) 361-2077 (O) U.S.A. (215) 855-2366 (F)

HOARE, Box 388, Temagami, (705) 569-3628 (H)

Bert Ontario, Canada,

P0H 2H0

KARLSEN, Turbine Design Inc. (904) 738-0510 (F)

Doug 608 North McDonald Ave, (904) 738-1667 (O)

Deland, FL 32724

TROWBRIDGE, Box 181, Sheboygan Falls (414) 467-4621 (H)

Jeff WI 53085

HUETTEMANN, Luisenstrasse 72 (49-89) 2725170 (H)

Michael 80798 Munchen, Germany (49-89) 2732056 (F)

SCHRIDDE, Kastanienweg 6 06107-62648 (H)

Manni 65451 Kelsterbach, Germany 06107-3859 (F)