bigbird3

Hey Tony, Thanks again for coming by and picking up my Sea Wind. Lucky I cought up with you on the freeway to give you the wing joiner you, we forgot to load in the car. Keep in touch. Have fun.
Bird.
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Bob93447

[[email protected];12092349]The Thousand Islands is the initial stretch of the St. Lawrence river where it flows out of Lake Ontario. The region is partly Canadian and partly American There are more than 1000 rocky islands, I believe, in the river. If you put in Gananoque Ontario into Google Earth and decrease the magnification a bit you will see the heart of the region.

Tony -- it really looks like a great place to fly. I saw one of your You Tube posts several years ago and thought you were flying in the "Bay of Islands" in New Zealand.
For its size and weight, the Seawind does have some weak spots. Mine, which is only 8 years old, is showing wear where the wing joiner goes through the fuse. I also have a persistent leak where the water rudder penetrates the fuse. Even though I am flying electric with a much less weight up on the pylon than a nitro powered version, my pylon structure is starting to get weak. Finally, I have a number of cracks in the gel coat. What have been your primary problem areas?

Congrats on scoring an almost new Seawind. I keep hoping that Great Planes is going to update the design and re-release the model, replacing some or all of the plywood with Carbon Fiber and correcting some of the design flaws but I doubt that is going to happen.

Bob Hill

[email protected]

[QUOTE=bigbird3;12092427]Hey Tony, Thanks again for coming by and picking up my Sea Wind. Lucky I cought up with you on the freeway to give you the wing joiner you, we forgot to load in the car. Keep in touch. Have fun.
Bird.
[email protected][/QUOTE

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your hospitality and excellent customer service( chasing me down I-89 to give me my wing joiner). Assembled the seawind today, put in my rcvr, and fired up the OS LA65. Question: how do you set the needle valve? - how far do you back off from peak RPM's. I'm using 15% 2-stroke fuel. Haven't flown yet - maybe tomorrow depending on wind/weather

Please say hi and thankyou to your lovely wife.

Tony

[email protected]

Hi Bob93447,

This was the 10th and last year campaigning my original Seawind. Thanks to Bigbird3 for providing a replacement. On my first flight 10 years ago I broke the internal frame reinforcing the pylon and it could never be effectively repaired - the pylon would flex from side to side but.... My Seawind was heavy to begin with (18 yr old OS 91). This made landings fast and tricky and frequently wet (takeoffs were very long as well). Consequently the Seawind would add more weight making for more excitement. I added a heavy duty former to reinforce the pylon. .Cracks appeared at the pylon base and where the former was fastened. Rough landings meant that my cut down 12" dia. graupner prop was cutting into the fuselage - I would seal this with box tape. The wings held up well but with them being so low it is very hard to keep them dry and weight is gained here. Even on the best flights there would be water in the fuselage. After the last flight I was unwilling to repair the fuselage again and moved on. Because of the summer location, I've been flying seaplanes for nearly 40 yrs: GeeBee Mallard; TopFlite Kittiwake; Lanier Mariner. Always a struggle (for me) to get reliable takeoffs and landings and to stay dry. After getting the first Seawind, I got an electric Hacker SuperZoom foamy with the float set. So much easier to deal with and still fun to fly. I can't let the Seawind experience go however so... Bigbird's plane is in great shape, is lighter with a 2cycle .65 so I'm hoping for the best.

I doubt as you do that GP will bring it back, probably not enough takers given the difficulties. If you search me on YouTube(wloomis15/Tony Loomis ) you'll see a pretty good flight sequence(for me) representative of my experiences.

https://youtu.be/C0KWAUHwrZ8

Glad to have the opportunity to relate my story.

Tony
Despite this the Seawind is so so I'll continue.

bigbird3

[[email protected];12093326]Tony, Needle should be close. Start, point nose high, throttle high, back off needle till it burbles, close till it starts to die, don't let it die. This is your "too low, too high" range with most any glow engine. With engine full throttle and nose hi, go 'low end burble' and close to about one quarter inside low end of range. It should run and idle fine.
Thank you for your kind words, the wife enjoyed meeting you and your lovely wife too.
If you should need a rest stop with friendly faces on your way home, please don't hesitate.
All best.
Bird.
Let me know how it goes. Remember, low idle, lower landing speed! We also talked about flying with down trim all the time. Just a click or so, so it's barely noticeable, this will let the plane bring itself to a landing and then you pull back to flair,
much easier than trying to put it on the ground/water. Makes your turns look good to, no porpous when leveling out.
Adios.

Sharpeye22

I need to know how the servos in the tail do over time. I am conserned that on this fast larger plane that those micro servos that GP recommend will allow flutter and fail, or their gears will strip out for other reasons.

I am still reading this thread but have only got to page 37. Post number 926.

[email protected]

Sharpeye, I used the small recommended futaba servos for 10 seasons and had no problems with them. It's good they are close to the control surfaces. They also never seem to be troubled by all the water.

Tony Loomis

Sharpeye22

Thanks for the info. I picked up a old stock new in box at Perry, Ga. This year. I am putting it together using the mods in this thread. It. will be for water only so I do not add the weight of retracts. Power will be my Saito 100 with a 12.5x7 3 bladed prop. Presently I am trying to work out how to handle the switch and charge plug. I want it seal the hatch to keep out the water.

bigbird3

Sharpeye, check out my pictures of how I put the switch in. Tony Loomis owns it now as of two weeks ago. I'm not sure what page it's on but lots of photos! Perhaps Iony would be kind enough to take a few???? I purposle did'nt put a charge port in it since the canopy comes off after each flight day. I also mountet all servos for the fuselege inside. Wings are per recomendation. Good flying
bird.



Hey Tony, did you fly it yet?
Hope all went well.
bird. Any video????

bigbird3

Sharpeye, I just found my posts on page 25.
Enjoy.
bird.

Sharpeye22

Thanks for going through the trouble to find your older post Bigbird. I remember it and it is a very good solution. I may do a variation of it. My servos will be in the stock location but there are other places I could bring the cable out.

bigbird3

You are welcome. The reason for the cable location is that if it flips or anything else, it would be in the air. Also, put a bit of vasoline where it comes out to prevent leakage.
All best.
bird.

Sharpeye22

I thought I would post a few pictures of my progress. All I have done is install the engine,tank, and throttle servo. I used a 14oz Dubro tank, it is almost 10 grams lighter than the stock tank. Not much but I figure every little bit helps. My solution to the throttle servo is because I wanted to be able to pull the tank if the need arose. With it sideways I would have had to tear out the upright post. This way it is a simple matter of just removing two screws. My battery is all the way forward and is held in place to the tray I made with rubber bands.

bigbird3

Nice job. I had to epoxy BB's in the nose and put a 5-sub-C 6 Volt battery in the nose to balance! It should balance by picking it up by the prop shaft. Just a note; use very low rate rudder to take off, high rate to taxi then switch. Also, bring the speed up quickly and hold lots of up or it will bounce. Watch Tony Loomis' you tube. Don't put full throttle fo take off, remember, it's trying to pull the top over the nose. There is nothing wrong with the design, the complaints some of these guys have are a result of way over powering it with 100's and 125's. Your 100 is border line. I put an LA 65 OS in mine/now Tony's and it has great power and no bearings to rust. The pylon structure isn't built to handle even your engine. If you insist on using the 100, shoot some door and window foam in the pylon. DON'T use regular 'STUFF' because it expands way too much and will probably break the fiberglass. The open air sides will cure befoe the unexposed and it keeps on going creating pressure.
Rottsa ruck!
bird.

Sharpeye22

I thought of doing that but I can not find any spray in, closed cell foam. If it is open cell like the window seal foam or any other that I have found, it will soak up any and all water it comes in contact with. Not good inside a seaplane. If you know of a source of closed cell foam please relay the source to me.

I have been reinforcing the bulkheads, and formers inside the fuselage with a mixture of ground glass and 45min epoxy. All the formers seem to be well glued but I am making double sure. It was a challenge but with a long skinny surrenge and chop sticks with the ends shaped as paddles I was able to reach most of the formers in the upright fin. Next I will put a layer of carbon vail, .5 glass cloth and epoxy on the inside bottom.

I knew my engine was a bit large for this model after reading the entire thread but It is well broke in and dependable. I will just have to be smart about using its available power. (I never like flying at full power and often take off my other planes at less than full power.) (I am not a gun and go kind of pilot)

Thanks for the input!

Bob93447

The crappy plywood supporting the pylon is the real weak point of this airframe. Even with an electric motor weighing only 10 oz I've been able to crack one of the ply frames. I can't imagine the stress involved using a large glow engine, My approach will be to laminate carbon fiber strips onto the plywood that I can reach. What sort of syringe are you using to get the glue where it needs to be?

Sharpeye22

There is a vet supply in my area, so I get all sizes to inject glue or whatever where I need it. I am using a horse syringe for this application. I never fill the syringe though because when the epoxy is confined it cooks off quicker. So the job involves do a little, clean the syringe, mix a little epoxy and repeat.

Sharpeye22

I have heard a lot and read a lot about my engine (Saito100) being a big engine, "to big for this plane." GP list a FS90 as an engine for it. The Magnum 91FS weighs in at a total of 22.4oz. My santo weighs in at a total of 20.9oz. My saito is well broke in and when I tune it and balance the prop and spinner it does not vibrate any more than a two stroke. In fact at 8000 it is almost like it is not running, it is just that smooth.

Sure a lighter 2 stroke 60 might be better but I would have to buy it and break it in and gamble that it might give me a dead stick.

My santo has never given me a dead stick and it has had plenty of time to do so.

jrf

My Feedback: (551)

A 61 2 stroke, with muffler is heavier than a 91 or 100 four stroke. Most are about 24 oz.

Jim

bigbird3

Bob, you might find them at tractor supply. They have a lot of stuff for horses.
bird.

Bob93447

Thanks for the info on where to get syringes!

Servos: I have been using the recommended servo for over 8 years with no problems. I have had a problem with the elevator pushrod bending under extreme circumstances. My fix has been to put a carbon fiber sleeve over the pushrod.

Has anyone actually filled the pylon with foam? I'm not sure this would be a good fix: the primary problem is getting the upper fuselage firmly attached to the internal formers so that there is no uncontrolled side to side motion.

Sharpeye22

Like I said I have recently read this entire thread. Earlier someone suggested filling the pylon with spray in foam. It worked great till the foam soaked up water and then the plane was not flyable due to the excess weight of the water. (Once the water is in the foam it is there to stay, it also harms the foam over time, mold etc.)

There is two types of foam, (open cell, and closed cell). Closed cell is the type used to build foam airplane, and it will not absorb water. Unfortunately I do not believe that one can get a spray in closed cell foam.

bigbird3

You might try putting gasoline on the foam to melt it out. Yes it will be messy and you will have to strip out every piece of gear but if you want to fly it again, that is what you will have to do. If gas doesn't work,MEK! But there goes your finish! Weren't you thinking of a new paint sceme?
Just a thought!
bird.

Sharpeye22

It was not myself that did the foam thing with the pylon. And yes some kind of solvent should desolve the foam. I had read about the episode back around page 30ish. I was just relaying the fiasco.

bigbird3

Right!