Life in high def

I like classic, simple things. Bob Seger. Joan Jett. Chopin. Sinatra in the Reprise years after Ava Gardner had kicked the shit out of him. My Classic SV-D1000T. 

It's hard to believe that it's been 13 years since I bought my first Skyview, 10 years since Dynon kindly allowed me to trade it in for the new, fancy, SV-D1000T Touch. I've been lusting after the HDX system every year at Sun n Fun, and every year I think "Naaahhhhhh...".

And yet, it was time to admit my Skyview WAS 10 years old, and probably living on borrowed time. There were some things I never liked, such as the knobs I was afraid would snap off if I put too much weight on them, and the screen colors. With Jim scheduled to come out soon and the engine almost ready to run, it would be foolish not to upgrade now, before retirement tightens the budget next year.

Fortunately, Dynon still offers a trade-in program, and they were quite happy to take my Classic in trade. Stopped off on the way home, and in a few minutes my pocketbook was lighter by a considerable sum, but far less than if I had bought Garmin. 

While the HDX is a drop in replacement for the Classic (including the cable assignments!!), there are a couple caveats. The top screw holes are the same but the display only uses 4 instead of 6 bolts/screws, the middle screw on the Classic is not used, and there is a small gap across the bottom that is not seen, but for which a small gap sealer is provided that screws into the unused bottom Classic screw holes. 

Time for the part we all hate: smoke check. How long can you hold your breath? 

OH NO!!!

Wait. I've seen this before, and I had RTFM before I flipped the switch. Gotta introduce everything to each other.

Cool. Nice colors. Love the shelf for the buttons and bigger, more solid knobs.

 Quick peek outside to initialize the GPS. 

Go fast (Sun n Fun). Go slow (SeaRey throttle)

  Spring, so we know what that means....

 

 

 And once back home, for now I've decided to give up trying to make my own hand grip. I'm going to use the Classic throttle setup. moved forward as far as possible to avoid the infamous "T-rex" arm position, and I'm working with a manufacturer to custom make some grips for my messed up right hand. They can do it faster and better than I can.

 

 

 

The hard we do immediatley, the impossible..... (new brakes)

Several years into the build Progressive Aerodyne went to a new wheel/brake system, it included a reservoir installed on the back of the bulkhead. Jim said it would be impossible to retrofit the new system.

I hate it when he says something is impossible. 

The reason he said it was impossible was because you can't get a drill, electric or pneumatic, between the upper bulkhead crossbeam and the fuel tank. But you can get a Dremel right angle attachment in there. And since there was no other good spot to put the reservoir, I had to come up with a solution. I could not be part of the precipitate.

Not shown is cutting drill bits down so they fit, but start off with a couple small drill bits (my borescope camera helped me see) to make pilot holes. Since Dremels can only fit up to a 1/8" shank, I ground a Dremel router bit down just oversize a 6-8 rivet, and used that for final sizing. Jim just shook his head

 

And the crowd went wild.

With that done, she got her leg spats. Takes a few tries of tweaking the gear legs up and down until you find the sweet spot until the ring centers, and I used #10 stainless screws instead of the factory nutplates. Not my greatest caulking job, one days I'll learn to get it right.

Came home from Sun n' Fun with a couple new stickers and a patch....

 and a new lodger outside my hangar. I was walking the ramp and saw a bird with an injured wing, slowly approached it until it flew off and I went Ok, where's the nest?

 

Concept vs Reality

 MANY thanks to a pilot/friend who offered to do it, and Greg at Polyfiber tech support who said "Sure, it's done all the time. What questions do you have? Have your friend call me." I had no idea it was so complicated, I thought stuff just, stuck, y'know? Turns out there's a complicated chemical reaction that occurs, and the new vinyl is not your grandfather's old vinyl. Really neat listening to Greg and my friend talk back and forth about which vinyl to use.

Scheme Designers did the artwork off a concept I had and we refined it over a couple years when Life got in the way. The size was limited by the printing machine, if we had tried to make it bigger it would have to be in 2 parts with a seam horizontally across the wingspan, so we maxed it out for a single sheet and played with the aspect ratio so it would look proportionate. I used a projector to display the final on the wing to make sure it looked good, then we went for it. I also applied it to a MS FSX SeaRey.

 

 

 

 

...

Beginning of the end

 Fuel system is all wrapped up, I could have the engine running a couple weeks, just in time for winter to shut us down. Instead it's time for the 90% of the last 10% of things to do. Double check and wrap up the electrical using the knowledge I've gained, add a couple things, take away a couple more. 

But mounting the front spar yoke means we're out of the coarse building phase. 

An acceptable level of risk

There's risk in life. I've had more close calls driving on I-5 to/from work than I've had in airplanes. 

 

I've been working on the engine and fuel system, Rotax recommends a gascolator before the fuel pumps and I've bashed my way into a concussion banging my head trying to figure out a way to put one in the narrow confines of the SeaRey's fuel compartment. I've come up with a few ways to do it, but the hard part is maintaining and repairing it afterward. I'm sure there's a way, maybe, eventually, but after a year of working on it off and on I've decided that I'll accept the risk of not having a gascolator before the fuel pumps and stay with the standard SeaRey method of a fuel filter in the compartment, then a gascolator downstream on the root tube later on as others have done.

Installing is easy, but there will be a non-openable window where when she's flying, and I won't be able to get in this way, instead any access will be via the very narrow quarter circle behind the seat.