Update on my Lanier Yak 54. I checked at Tower today and they are discontinued, no wonder they were priced so far down! I removed the 3 Blade prop and TT spiner and went to a Mens 22X10 wood prop and GP 3 1/4 inch aluminum backed plastic spinner. I also removed the larger Lipo battery and installed a two cell lighter Lipo. I installed the original wheels and removed the GP, larger, stonger units and am looking for lighter wheels. Hated to remove the wheel pants, but just more weight with no functional advantage. This much got the overall weight down to a little less than 20 pounds. I found a 1 3/4 X 36" CF wing tube from TBM for less than $60 which will take out another 6 ounces.

I am looking for a CF Landing gear that will fit the Lanier. It has a swept forward landing gear, that sweeps forward nearly 4", so I can't use a similar dimensional unit with the top width at 8.5", wheel span of 19.5", a height of 10.5" and mounting width of 2 1.4". This gear is one of those split units that slides through slots in the bottom, rather than just to good ole reliable bolt on the bottom, like everyone elses.

If I can't find a CF gear, then I guess I will start removing covering and start removing excessive planking. The darned fuselage weighs nearly 14 pounds with the engine, gear, hatch and cowl. This is nearly 3 pound more than my old KMP Yak with the same stuff in it.

I thought about moving the engine back a little, since I am at the recommend distance from the firewall to the prop flange and have about 1.5" of clearance, then I could start removing excess wood planking on the turtle decks, underside of the fuselange and other places that don't really offer structural rigidity.

If anyone has any suggestions, let me hear them. My goal is to get below 19 pounds, which is very optimistic, considering I started with a flying weight of 21.5 pounds.

Appreciate everyones inputs, thanks!!