Around the World in (many) Days

People often ask "How far can you go in that thing?". Back in October Mike and I had the opportunity to meet a gent who gave the ultimate answer to that question.

Michael Smith started in Melbourne, Australia in March with the intent of reflying the Qantas Empire Flying Boat route of 1938 from Sydney to London. Long story short, he got to London, took a break, and decided to keep going, making it all the way around the world in his custom built SeaRey, Southern Sun.

Michael was taking a break in Seattle when Mike and I were able to meet up with him for breakfast.

Michael continued from Seattle up into Alaska and along the Aleutians, before making an incredible one-stop leg from Adak-Attu-Kushiro. That's 1,680 miles in one day!!!!


I've got a great life, but it's good to see nice guys do even better. Congratulations, Michael, it was a real pleasure meeting you.

..

Deja Stab

About a year after Osp was delivered PA determined that the fin and rudder needed reinforcing, and sent me a kit with oversleeves to be riveted over the existing tubing.

Further testing determined the oversleeves were not necessary, but by this time I had already installed them. The SeaRey LSA/X is a little porker, a kit that used to come in under 900# often now weighs in the 1,000# range, leaving a small payload envelope to stay below the 1,435# max weight for an amphib. In addition, the SeaRey has a long tail moment and a short nose, meaning any excess weight in the tail requires more to compensate in the nose. Removing them would have left the structure weakened as a result of the holes I had drilled, so I was caught in a Catch-22.

After debating it, I decided to go ahead and acquire new stab frames, and while I was at it I acquired the new Friese ailerons. I'll fly Osp with the "Classic" ailerons, then switch to the newer ones at a date in the future if I want. By building them now I'd be able to paint everything at once and match the paint.

We've been there and done this before, but boiled linseed oil is still a sticky mess to apply and clean up.

Prep the hangar...

 and review old photos about previous assembly/covering days.

I really had to take a breath and ask myself if I wanted to do this again, if it was worth saving the weight. A quick slice of a knife ended the debate. 

That's a lot of junk off a single stab. 

A beat up hangar scale showed just under 2# removed, I stopped at the post office on the way home and got a more accurate reading of 2.1#/side, leading to a 4.2# weight removal from the tail, and saving an undetermined amount of weight I would have needed to add to the nose to counter the oversleeves. Worth it.

A long time ago...

It's not the years, it's the (s)miles.

Covering is FUN!!