I'm done and ready to go, plus we got 10" of snow higher up last night (18" in the last 2 days)! I still haven't resolved what to do with the nose cable and the electrical harness which parallels the bungee. There has to be slack in both to have the needed length for the most downward attitude, I can't secure it to the bungee of course because it stretches. I guess for the first flight I'll let them hang out in the breeze, as long as they don't slap against my boot cowl. Possibly a light ski mounted bungee would keep the slack out while allowing it all still to work, I'll think of something.

I'm happy with the ground clearance, my main concern, especially once I raise the tail, I'll be easily able to handle my gravel driveway/ramp and any dirt and grass strips. I did have to smooth out my hanger slab approach with some scrap plywood, it was too high and as the lowest point is the TE of the ski, pulling it back in to the hanger was a problem until the plywood.

It was too windy, plus cross, to fly this afternoon, but I got to pull it out of the hanger and taxi up to my staging area, no problemo in what is about worse case scenario with soft ground, gravel, and snow. In the winter with the ground frozen it'll be even better.



This shows my standoff for the front cable/bungee attach point, also the wire harness going through a grommet in the cowl. The cabling is secured with a sleeve of tubing and a couple hose clamps. It looks like I'll be able yank off the skis, standoff, and wiring in about 10 minutes. Flush plugs will plug the holes and be low drag and pretty unnoticeable, good enough for me anyway.


I plan to make the first takeoff on the wheels, fly to an airport, and then do some testing. My main concern is the bungee tension and AOA of the ski (which 5 degrees up relative to the airplane). Too low of ski angle in flight and too wimpy of a bungee could result in the ski going divergent, for the first flight off my strip (where I'm committed on takeoff) I plan to safety the bungee with rope, then at the airport, where I'll have the room to see how it all works, I'll do some very low level testing. The first snow landing is the big deal, I'm getting excited!

Help an ignorant old coot out, here, what's the electric cable for?

thanks,
tom

Savannah-Tom wrote:Help an ignorant old coot out, here, what's the electric cable for?

thanks,
tom

Exactly...you got heated brakes or something?

They're retractable wheel skis. Electric, imagine that, no hydraulic lines.

Tim

Since I am working for a set of these also, I am especially happy to see you post your photos of the set up and show what is involved. I like the clearance of the ski in the up position, I had pictured the heel of the ski dragging a little on dry ground without much tire sticking through but it looks good. On the question of the slack in both the steel cable and the electrical cord in the flying position, could the two be taped together most of the way down and then a second, very light bungee be used half way down, attached only to the cable, to pull the slack of both rearward toward something like the base of the wing strut? It would still give when the ski tip goes down and the bungee being fastened only to the cable would put no extra strain on the electrical harness, only the tape would hold the harness cord. I realize the harness will have to be able to move away rearward from the cable when the ski position is changed but some slack in the lower part might allow for that making it less of an issue. Just a thought from looking at the setup from along ways back, I'm not on the front line like you are.

Is there a reason why u couldn't run that wire along the gear leg & forward with the slack inboard of the wheel? That's where my hydraulic lines go, it just looks like there's alot of slack blowing in the wind inflight when the bungie pulls the tips up.

L-19 wrote:Is there a reason why u couldn't run that wire along the gear leg & forward with the slack inboard of the wheel? That's where my hydraulic lines go, it just looks like there's alot of slack blowing in the wind inflight when the bungie pulls the tips up.

Hell yeah, I'll talk ski flying , at the end of a 88 degree day!

I have to have the bungee where it is, so the electical lines running along side the bungee seems like the simplest way to go. And, right under the panel/the boot cowl, is where I enter with the wires, an absolute min. of wire run. Getting wiring secured to the bungee, while still allowing the bungee freedom of movement, took some thinking, but the right combination of zip ties did the job.

Indicated cruise speeds show no big hit speed wise. Actually about 3 to 5 mph near as I can tell, but according to the manufacturer, I have too high of an inflight angle of attack as rigged, so this fall I will make up new cables giving a more neutral AOA, and that will give me back the lost speed. This has been affirmed by others: no loss of cruise speed when rigged right. Cool.