What do composite straight skis have in them other than fiber and epoxy? Do they have an aluminum skeleton around the axle?
Do they use a composite honeycomb or a layer of plywood on the ski-board?

There's one landis ski cut down length wise at the Alaska air museum. It's a composite axle no metal. No honeycomb either from what I remember.

New Attlee Dodge carbon fiber skis have tube upper portion like the old wood ski.
DENNY

Wouldn't something like these would be a lot easier to build...

http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=3173

Thanks guys. I haven't seen the Atlee version but like the idea of 4130 tops and carbon fiber boards. I should probably look up the right words for things before I post...
Airdale must not sell those anymore? Is it just UHMW attached to a frame?

I have seven yards of carbon fiber and a quart of epoxy. I might do it on a whim but probably not. It snows a substantial amount every three years or so and last year was impressive. (We have two years to figure it out)

The new Atlee Carbon skis are super cool.
Those Airedale skis are pretty cute. They would build up snow and ice really bad making them pretty heavy. I can't imagine hitting a frozen snowmachine track or stump and making it out ok with that little tube frame. Maybe they are fine on a kitfox weight range plane.
The landis skis are also hollow on the inside.
I had a pair of skis that were plywood wrapped in fiberglass with wesco posts. They were fine skis but super heavy.
I would love to press a pair of straight carbon skis with a light weight foam core. Pretty much just like the new FAD skis. Then I sold my cub and lost interest. I would still like to make a pair for fun.

wyomingiswindy wrote:Airdale must not sell those anymore? Is it just UHMW attached to a frame?

Airdale doesn't really exist any more.

They are 4130 tube frames with 1/4" UHMW bottoms. If you look at the second design shown in that link (my skis) you can see the design will not build up snow behind the wheel and they actually work very well for a non-retracting wheel ski. There's a couple of videos of them on my YouTube channel.

My Datums are pretty well figured out I think, no use re-inventing the ....ski. I like the ski structure kinda fairs the wheel. They are heavy though the weight seems well spent. A carbon set would be cool but the 'glas ones are expensive enough. I'm making the annual swap over in a few days, and get giddy just thinking about the increased wintertime ways I can screw up. It's always bittersweet taking off the Airstreaks and putting on the 8:00's, but then things get better again when the skis go on.

Greg,
I bought a set of the 2000 Lite Datums. One of the skis was damaged and I tore it apart to reglass the 'craked' area. After removing the UHMV bottom I noticed that some of the high stress area has plywood reinforcement. I can take some pics of them if you want and email them to you. Just send me a PM with your email.

I didn't take the time to build skis! I spent most of my surplus carbon building gizmos like ductwork and close-outs...
But lucky for me Graham drove 5000 miles to hook me up with some GT "museum quality" skis.
(And then I had to check Evan's mail.)
And get a hernia.

wyomingiswindy wrote:I didn't take the time to build skis! I spent most of my surplus carbon building gizmos like ductwork and close-outs...
But lucky for me Graham drove 5000 miles to hook me up with some GT "museum quality" skis.
(And then I had to check Evan's mail.)
And get a hernia.

That's awesome, made my day!

wyomingiswindy wrote:I didn't take the time to build skis! I spent most of my surplus carbon building gizmos like ductwork and close-outs...
But lucky for me Graham drove 5000 miles to hook me up with some GT "museum quality" skis.
(And then I had to check Evan's mail.)
And get a hernia.

Good stuff Maynard...

Fun video! Well done!

I'd have broken the law. No way could I have not looked through Trade a Plane......

Awesome!! Almost like flying floats, lots of places to land, and when you do land....no brakes!
Put a danged winch in that hangar before you bust yer a$$!!! Or worse yet, screw your back up. Take it from me...you do NOT want that happening!

About time you got skied up! It made me a little nervous watching that tail getting pushed around, I'm sure you're heard the horror stories of the gear getting twisted off, getting turned around is the biggest challenge, sure makes you re-appreciate wheels come spring. Those look like they are working good for you, fun not having brakes isn't it!

wyomingiswindy wrote:I didn't take the time to build skis! I spent most of my surplus carbon building gizmos like ductwork and close-outs...
But lucky for me Graham drove 5000 miles to hook me up with some GT "museum quality" skis.
(And then I had to check Evan's mail.)
And get a hernia.

Great Vid, Glad they are getting used , They came with a J4E project!!
Yes be careful turning them, I spent 5 days on a glacier because we broke an gear leg on a 185!!
Helluva Goat Rope!!
Good to have experienced friends to come save my ass!!