Keith, you NEED a Sportsman's cuff. Then you NEED to put VG's on it. You will NEED to control your smile from that point forward.

akgreg wrote:Keith, you NEED a Sportsman's cuff. Then you NEED to put VG's on it. You will NEED to control your smile from that point forward.

Hi Greg... that's the reason I haven't posted any pictures here... all photos show me dancing around and giggling like a ten year old girl !!! There is no controlling the smile!

I'll get in touch before I get back in town.

Keith, what akgreg said!

Just saw your latest pm, yea let's get together when you get back up here, timing should great.

kg wrote:...I've vowed to not go down the rabbit hole of "I need that mod...." but a friend up at Denali just told me that I should fly his 182 with the Sportsman's cuff before I rule anything out. There must be something to it...

Keith, I have installed several Sportsman Cuffs on 170/180/185s now and can say that on pre-camber lift wings, there is no debate. Its night and day when you are pushing the edge and flying slow.

For camber lift wings, there is improvement for sure, but the improvement is definitely not as dramatic. On a 170/180/185 there are a handful of "must-have" mods. For pre-camber, Sportsman is one of the first things I recommend. For Camber lift, it's on the list, but further down.

FWIW... I would not do a Sportsman w/o doing VGs. Also, I would not put on VGs w/out a Sportsman first, on any wing.

Just my .02

Phil... Thx for sharing the pics! I agree w/ your experience when removing the flap gap seals. It does make a difference. Those that say there isn't a difference are not flying the bird as slow as or as close to the edge as can be done.

Thanks Greg! That's good info. Mine is a '75 so has the Cessna camber lift wing. I expect avgas will be the best money spent on mine for a while.

kg wrote:Thanks Greg! That's good info. Mine is a '75 so has the Cessna camber lift wing. I expect avgas will be the best money spent on mine for a while.

Before you do anything, I would strongly recommend you actually weight the bird to get a good baseline. The most important thing you can try to do on the late model Skywagon is to manage the weight as they are much heavier compared to the early and even the mid. You can really feel it in how they fly. Rather than spend a ton of cash modding it out, I would suggest keeping it as light as possible. You will find that if you fly it right, it will do pretty well on its own. WingX, Sportsman, bushwheels... will just load it up. Stick with 8.5x6, stock camber lift. If your 12v, put the light battery in and Airglas CF extended baggage. Gut that interior, remove old heavy avionics, pull the back seat, (Expensive,) but get some Ti gear on... You could easily pull 75-100lbs out. Your short field perf will really shine.

If you do want to go down the rabbit hole with the mods, the single best thing you can do (first) to a late model 180 is go with the 520. (I know you have one already... ) It really makes a difference.

Congrats on the new bird! It's a whole different game than the 170 for sure!

Congrats on the new airplane, I have been in your shoes and I know its a great feeling!

My first "mod" would be BAS shoulder harnesses if it isn't already equipped. First mod as in right now! The stupid useless crossover that no one seems to use or if they do it is never snug is useless. Get the BAS harnesses now!

Kurt

PS, SWEET airplane!

corefile wrote:

jrollf wrote:

Barnstormer wrote:

DeltaRomeo wrote:Why don't you just install numerous USB charging ports instead? You know thats what it going to be used for...

That's an excellent question. And the answer is because Garmin hasn't yet learned what a USB connection is. Both my powered inRreach mount and my GDL 39 cables have old-school cigarette lighter plugs. Hopefully some day they'll figure it out, but probably not till everyone else is charging things through the air.

Another good reason is the 'standard' USB plug is slowly becoming obsolete in the electronics industry, there is a move toward the smaller 'USB C' connector.

I personally like to keep the power plug (aka cigarette lighter) because I can always find a charger that adapts to whatever the 'latest' plug that my gadgets have. Once/if the USB plug becomes obsolete you would have a useless plug in your airplane.

That is nonsense about it becoming obsolete... since you are only using the USB port for power, not actual data - there will alway be someone that will make an adapter .... just like for the cigarette lighter. Most new cars don't even come with a cigarette lighter anymore, but almost all have USB - that alone will keep usb peripherals alive for a very long time. And as far as USB C - that is why I went with this http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/mcitrueblueta202series.php it gives me both USB types, plus I have cables that are Dual outputs (USB and Type-C). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075WY6VQ8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I mean its a bit hokey - you can even get a USB to female 12v lighter socket cable https://www.amazon.com/ARECORD-Cigarette-Lighter-Socket-Converter/dp/B01J67JIOQ for those unicorn devices that have hardwired lighter socket power(without an option to buy it with USB). My only point here is, USB for power it not going to go away for a very very long time. And whatever replaces it, would also replace the lighter socket (like power over air).

Generally agree with Corefile, but the fact is that you can get these for cigarette-style chargers on Amazon:

Okay, having gone back and forth to Lake Hood four times in the last two days, and getting to land 32 in a turn really slow almost touching the tree tops, and then getting shorts takeoffs I can say without a single doubt in my mind that removing the flap gap seals made a really big difference and that RSTOL is the bomb as I always expected it would be. I can't wait to get the Sportsman STOL on and see where it goes from here.

On the cigarette lighter adapter front here in Soldotna I only managed to find the big ugly ones and therms only one type of each. So I went to Amazon and ordered four of these guys, they came in today and look excellent and tidy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M6QODH2

Thought I’d give you guys an update. 185 is at my mechanics in Texas. I had him remove the GPS and it’s antenna, the glide slope and the vor and antenna, the dme and antenna. Install flap track kit. Replace the cowl cam locks with stainless ones. Move the elt under the extended baggage floor. Install a suppressor at the elt antenna. Remove the speaker. Install secondary seat stop on the copilot chair.

Purchased two SL40s to replace the existing radios. Those will be installed in the next few weeks. Need to replace the transponder as well but haven’t yet decided what I want to do with that. Pponk gear beef up kit to be installed as well.

And great news, the super extended baggage has been approved so as soon as I fly her back to Alaska we will get that built and installed.

A side note on cigarette lighter to USB adapters for troglodytes like me:

Las summer, I bought this plane, which came equipped with a charge cable terminated in lightning plug for iPad.

So, plugged in my iPad mini and.....no soap. Crazy busy time, as summer always is, so didn’t fiddle with it till I got back from KOSH.

Pulled a seat and crawled up under the panel, assuming I had a broken wire or???

Turned out to be that the charge cable was plugged into a cigarette lighter to USB adaptor. Pulled the adapter and verified there was power to the cig. lighter . So, I looked at the USB adapter and realized it was a 3 A model. iPad won’t charge on those. Drove to Radio Shack, bought a 5A adapter, and fixed.

Back in Navy BEEP School, one of the instructors said “when trouble shooting, always start with the simplest fix”.

So, when you’re shopping for USB adapters, get a higher power one.

Duh,

MTV

I have this one:

https://amzn.to/2Ede2JT

It works well, seems reliable, and gives me a battery voltage which is handy. When my alternator failed, it was very obvious, and when I was trying to debug if it was the alternator or the regulator in the field, this little charger with a small length of wire was used as a basic voltmeter.

schu

akschu wrote:I have this one:

https://amzn.to/2Ede2JT

It works well, seems reliable, and gives me a battery voltage which is handy. When my alternator failed, it was very obvious, and when I was trying to debug if it was the alternator or the regulator in the field, this little charger with a small length of wire was used as a basic voltmeter.

schu

That is sweet! Unfortunately, my adapter is up under the panel....so wouldn't do me much good, but I like the idea of that voltage meter built in.

MTV

If there's ever a question regarding TSO status of electrical ports: https://lonestaraviation.com

Sometimes it costs more to keep the wolves away.

Gary

If your considering USB ports. I found this little goodie on, yes Amazon, for $8.50. Self contained, mounts in place of a lighter hole has two ports a cover and a volt meter. Works from 28-12 volts input. I thought it was worth a shot. Just got two and have not had the opportunity to mount them yet. Nicely made from aluminum. The gauge shows through the cover when closed.

FWIW... Some of these non-TSO gizmos can wreak havoc with RF interference. I trouble shot a portable GPS for over a week with Garmin until finally figured out the culprit. It was a cigarette USB.

Bigrenna wrote:FWIW... Some of these non-TSO gizmos can wreak havoc with RF interference. I trouble shot a portable GPS for over a week with Garmin until finally figured out the culprit. It was a cigarette USB.

The cheap Chinese USB chargers often use very noisy switching circuits to convert 12V to the 5V necessary for USB connections. I was chasing all sorts of "radio problems" around for a while a few years ago.

All very true about cheap USB inserts. Kind of why I chose one with a metal case, less RF leaks and it is not all that difficult to see which ones are problematic, just hook up a scope to the output and the input (it can go both ways). Look for the usual leaky harmonics. Most of them are good, the issues come when they cheap out and eliminate the necessary filters most chipsets call out in the recommended build (they cost almost as much as the chip). There really are not that many chipsets out there, just cheap builds not adding the necessary chokes and capacitors like the designers recommended. There is also the physical connection of a plug and socket. Corrosion makes the contacts make noise. Most of the "TSO" units are using older chipsets (approval lag), things do get better with time.

In my earlier life between the Navy and NOAA, I designed clever one shot aircraft that listened for interesting stuff at Electrospace. We had to ensure none of our sneaky one off boxes made false noise we would mistakenly interpret as something else on another box. What they where designed to ferret out had pretty weak signals to begin with. GPS is a weak signal.

DeltaRomeo wrote:
That is nonsense about it becoming obsolete... since you are only using the USB port for power, not actual data - there will alway be someone that will make an adapter .... just like for the cigarette lighter. Most new cars don't even come with a cigarette lighter anymore, but almost all have USB - that alone will keep usb peripherals alive for a very long time....

The problem is the march is on to increase the amperage and voltage of USB standards, even new car's USB ports generally can not provide full power specs of USB 3.0, nor the newer Qualcomm quick charge standards (or Apple's equivalent). Using adapters from a standard USB port will provide sub par charging which in my opinion will only get worse as time goes on, some newer devices will lose charge if used extensively on old usb charging standards.

A full 10 Amp 12v or 24v power port will easily provide enough power for the latest charging adapters, and I won't need to hire my A&P to 'upgrade' my charging port every few years. FWIW...

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I believe the 5A is for both outlets not for any one outlet. I didn't think there were any Radio Shacks left.
Also the cord you are using can have a big influence on the charging rate. A very useful device is something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/X-DRAGON-Multime ... 158&sr=1-2

You can try different usb adapters and cords and get the best combination. I have seen the charging rate on my Ipad mini go from 1.1A to 2.0A just by changing to a quality cord.