June 26, 2024
The back right cylinders on Lycoming engines are always the hottest on Van’s RV planes. I’ve not had any major issues (with CHT temperatures) on cylinder 5 until recently. Departing Las Vegas at 6:45am in 90+ degree temperatures it took a lot of playing with my climb rate and oil cooler dampener to keep the CHTs in line, and even…
November 12, 2022
My hanger neighbor sold his Husky and while the new owners were poking around I noticed his Minimax tug sitting in the corner. I asked him if was for sale and he explained that it was gifted to him when I got the hanger but it made a terrible grinding sound and didn’t work. And I was free to have…
November 11, 2022
I’ve watched plenty of Mike Patey’s videos showing the fabrication of carbon fiber parts but watching and doing are very different things. I knew this would be a learning project and I definitely developed some new skills. Next time I will be much fast with better quality. That said, I am very happy with the results and improvements I have…
September 21, 2022
Whelp I sure created a lot more work than was necessary. A bit of background, I share my hanger with a Cessna 180 and my partner has a Best Tugs Alpha A3. When I moved my plane in with her I tried to use her tug on my plane but found the adapters were too wide to fit in the…
March 17, 2022
A big day is coming up on April 11th, I’ll be heading to Hibbing, Minnesota to drop off N241VP at Midwest Aircraft Refinishing. Before painting I had one last little project I wanted to get completed. Flyboy Accessories manufactures a high quality, stainless steel tow bar/tug guard for the nose wheel. I picked it up a few months ago and…
March 11, 2022
I customized my Condition Inspection checklist based on Walt’s (EXP Aircraft Services LLC) checklist. I also added some frequently needed documents/information to the end of my document. Here is a link to my checklist As with building, there was a learning curve this year that added a good amount of extra time and effort. Next year I think the Condition…
October 28, 2017
Boats. Sometimes I just sit and shake my head at the amount of work it takes to keep a boat going. I owned an airplane earlier in life and let me tell you, airplanes are a cake walk. Boats just never stop asking for more. And then throw in a dumb-ass owner who loves new toys and it is a…
June 21, 2017
I became interested in finding out what other Seawind owners were using for anchors and it quickly morphed into adding other catamarans in the 38 to 42 foot range. It was interesting reading the emails, often the response was about how much they loved their anchor (I suppose you would ditch your anchor over the side permanently if you hated…
May 1, 2017
So I had a shitty experience one night in San Evaristo. Whether it was the Coromuel or the Elephante winds it does not really matter, the result was the same – a long night. Starting just after 9:00 the wind kicked up, just as it had a few nights earlier when my Mantus anchor held like a rock, I diligently…
January 24, 2017
Yet another substantial, multi-step process… Point of note, Seawind 1160s from the factory have 50 meters (165 feet) of 8mm short link galvanized chain. After the mock up that Baja Naval completed in Ensenada it was up to me to fabricate a new anchor roller bracket once back in the US. Before leaving the boat in La Paz I took…
December 14, 2016
I’m in the middle of upgrading the center steering bracket. The Seawind design had a single Ronstan Traveler Car to support the Steering Bracket. My understanding is the newer 1160 catamarans have relocated the Steering Bracket from a vertical mount to a horizontal mount to reduce stress on the ball bearings. This would be a significant change so instead I…
October 23, 2016
So what happened? Well I suppose the best term would be burn out. After working the month of July averaging 85 hours weeks, when I headed back to Minnesota, I was ready for a break from boat work. I did return for a few days in early September where I knocked off a couple of things and continued a frustrating…