Neverquit

This year Rough River was a blast! Remi had his usual sadistic humor. I just make myself wide open every year for his crosshairs. He kept us all hydrated with plenty of beer and water all weekend. -Thanks Remi John's PA/DJ system was perfect. Cool background music. All 16 minutes of Inagoddadavida. Not too loud. Everyone's stuff was laid out at the picnic tables for sale. This year there was more food than anyone could eat except Nathan's great chili. That went fast. Planes were going non-stop carring passengers. It was great. The sun really brings out the best in people. After 4 years I finally got my ride in Steve Wright's famed Stagger-EZ. He let me fly it most of the time while he put on a demo for the new Blue Mountain box. You can fly 0-0 with that thing right to runway. The coolest plane I saw this year was an 18hp lawn mower/generator 2 cylinder driven Quickie.

I drove up the driveway at Mike's. What a sight... Oily t-shirt, jeans, pouring grease trap sludge through two big filter bags. He was preparing dinner for the Mercedes.

EZ might make it worth your while to get in touch with AeroCad ad do it for them.

Tis' true but slow responses. I'm hoping it's because every is tire from Sun n Fun. : ) I guess the jury's still out for that top strake stiffness issue. As many answers as there are ideas. Carbon fiber out of the question, too expensive, tough to find Stiffer foam still not proven and nobody wants to say which foam to use. Some will not bond well to fiberglass and epoxy. I'm going to try a real heavy mesh biaxial fiberglass on the top. Both sides so the plane doesn't list while flying. : )) (edited)

Okay, I have the bottom strakes on and the bulkheads attached with flox on my Cozy. So far so good. Made to "Top Hat" or "T Top" 2 inch BID pieces last night and they're now curing on the plane (Cozy newsletter #67, Oct. 1999). Next step is to put the BID tapes on all joints. Now here's the question.... 1. Should I line the entire area once more with BID including one more layer to the top to be sure of a good all around sound structure? I've heard of some strake tops being a bit flexible when people sit on them. Also it seems one layer of BID is too thin considering the cut lines at the leading edge curve. 2. If I do no. 1 should I put it on the top, let it jell up so I can turn it upside down and put it over the top wet so I get a better bond? 3. I purchased Jeffco to "paint" the inside of the tank. If so, should I proceed with 1 and/or 2 first? 4. If the extra BID is not needed then shall I put on one good wet coat of epoxy, peel ply, after cure, put on the Jeffco or forget the foirst coat of epoxy? By the way, thanks to your trial and errors before me. Thanks to Jerry Schneider for the visuals and tips. Thanks to Wayne Hicks for the other stuff.

I went per plans from Uli Wolthers (Wolters?) Except had to add hard points. Dave Clifford gave me the idea first to use car hinges. The shorter the better as you can see. He used Audi rear deck lid hinges and had to cut off the end. Thus no location for the gas cylinder. Mine are VW. The car hinge give more lateral support and doesn't shimmy even without the cylinders.

I wanted to do the same thing. I talked to Chrissy about a year ago about it. They tried it and it didn't work. She said the window made it very flimsey and were afraid of the lack of support on the firewall. Better add months to your build for this mod. My FHC added 4 months for me.

Remi, just had to post it here too. Canardians, check out this website. This site doesn't say what a great cheauffer he was for Dust and I to the Cozy dinner. And when it was time for more refreshments. Cudos Remi. http://www.eaa868.org/member/index.php?module=article&view=3

I have 2 sets of the "light smoke" rear tinted windows. One set came with a pair of Aerocad wings and the other came from Todd's Canopies. Todd sent me an extra defective canopy so I made my own from it. I'll take any reasonable offer plus shipping.

its going to the curb next week

Nice concept but it didn't appeal to me. I tried it on a section of the nose to repair an area. After the top plies hardened I could press against it and it would make cracking sounds like celery or nachos. I'm assuming the hard micro is cracking beneath the glass plies. It doesn't appear to be as strong as when the foam gets wet microed before the plies.

Anyone near the Detroit area (or willing to drive) need a free turtleback jig? The jig is 2 inches wider and 2 inches taller at the canopy. It worked great!

I'd order an extra yard of BID. Believe me, what you don't use now you'll use later. It really sucks when you're in the middle of a layup or mess up and you don't have any more glass laying around. The ASS kit I believe you can add an extra yard from the website if you go to the breakdown portion. Tip - The "kits" have no discount for ordering it all at once. Get an extra gallon or two of epoxy if you can afford it now. You'll save on extra hasmat charges by ordering again later.

Okay, I change my wish too. A dilithium crystal-powered warp core hyperdrive Beech Starship amphib with STOL capabilities.

How does this heater get away with no carbon monoxide gasses? Jon, good to see you finally making progress.

Wayne, I think we're speaking different languages but agreeing. I need to add aside from the previous report from David Hanson, there is no proof that any inverted incident with a home made RAF roll bar (or Wayne's ) or head rest/turtleback combination will save the cranium. In addition, Todd's comment that a spam can survival rate is better than a canard's is also false. Aluminum aircraft on hard impact will send a shock wave across the entire plane. Wayne, help, there's a name for it but can't remember. What happens is the impact will create buckles in the plane that never touched the ground. Think of it like an accordion. Composite craft will come apart on impact where the impact is - such as the nose. One great example is a Dave Orr's Long. He hit some powerlines on emergency off field. He tore off the mains and nose grear, slid across the ground till his main wing hit a Joshua tree, spun him sideways then stopped. He and his partner stepped out. I know of another fellow years ago locally that went for a "bathtub ride" when he had to ditch in a gravel pit. He stepped out too. I've see quite a few spam can landings in fiels where the nose gear was also ripped off and the plane flipped. Heck, I just bid on a Cessna Cardinal like that. Funny, it needed a new tail cone too. I'm just saying every incident is different. One thing to remember is those tundra tired beasts go low and slow. The only advantage I can see for spam cans. I always wanted a STOL Cozy.

Need to correct you on that statement. There is no proof that "most" canards flip over in off-airport/runway conditions. Every emergency landing is different and I know of many pilots that have walked away upright and unscathed . A roll bar is nice if you feel you need one. The head rests and canopy brace are good for flip overs as well. If the person has a dangling baggage pod I would immediately question the integrity of the rest of the plane. I would assume the builder would not have the skill to create a jettison release for the pods. On emergency gear ups I would assume the golf clubs or sleeping bags in the pods would be the least of my worry. If you used them for fuel, that's another story.

MY very own Ratheon Starship.

The ultimate question..... Does anyone know of a website or a comparison chart where we can compare what aircraft engine would be the fastest for a Cozy? Nothing against auto engines, they're cool but it's just my decision for now. The way I see it, it looks like an injected 360 Lyco is the best choice. But I've heard of turbocharging it, new injection systems, etc. And why not a Continental and which one? Why not a 540 like the one at RR?

It's a good idea. If you like it, do it. Personally, I like the "winglet cap" and will just make the rudders 3" taller. I heard adding some rudder and elevator width made be beneficial as well.

http://www.roughriver.org/2005/ Jon, looks and reads like a magazine clip. Kudos! Need a new thread though. I realized I was beginning to read last year's. Looks like Jack got a couple new mods and a new paint job on the E-Racer. I'd call it a tie for 2005 between his and Chris Esselstyn's "Modified Cozy MKIV".

You went over the Dam? There's places to eat there? I drove toward Falls of Rough. There was a restaurant attached to the gas station. I think I drove through the town twice and saw the Big Star Pizza. That was it! Strange, stayed at the campsite. I was across a bass boat (225hp) fisherman. Nobody looked like a canardian. But, what does a canardian look like anyway? Jon, you should have come by under the tree.

Due to increased fuel prices I suggest we start now and chime out who is going. Maybe we can attract those by car/plane pooling to those who otherwise had decided to not go this year. My vehicle is now full of passengers. Who else is willing? It would be great if we could show our brotherhood/sisterhood of Canardians during difficult times and break last year's record.

I think we all have thought about doing that ourselves. I'm building so there's no time. How about one of you "don't know when I'm gonna' start" guys. I'm sure we'll all put you on a pedestal. Heck, I bet AS&S gives you the percentage of the "revised" edition. Aerocad is a good start too. That one cracks me up. I thought I was going to get my drawings on a disk. Instead I got the "notebook" edition of the Cozy drawings.

Anyone interested in speeding up Chap. 4 and would like some pre-made bulkheads - F22, firewall, landing gear panels, seatback, (still need to make the firewall and F-28) and the wood for chap. 5. I'll let it go for half the materials price + shipping (I'm in MI). The seatback and F-28 are 2 inches wider than the plans for those of you interested in tweaking the fuse width. The bulkheads are excellent construction and clear to the foam. These came with some wings I bought and don't need them. Please email me a private message if you're interested. Greg Norman Cozy MKIV #134