[rebel-builders] Re: firewall plates and floor stiffness, an

[Alan Hepburn]

Mike:

Well, it's been a long time since I wrote the email below - my goodness, 5
years. I trust the photos I uploaded are still there. I haven't regretted
any of the mods I made. The one I wish I'd made is to keep the stab at its
original size but reduce the area of the elevator spades by moving their
leading edge back. I just didn't feel I knew enough about aerodynamics to
try that, but I'm pretty sure the airplane would have had better pitch
dynamics. As it is, it is very slow to return to trim following a pitch
disturbance, and I attribute this to the 5% reduction in stab area that
results when you cut the spade area by reducing the stab span by 4" at each
tip.

As for floats, IMHO the Murphy floats at 1800 lb just aren't enough for the
Elite. I have the Montana 2200 amphibs, as does Jack Wiebe. So far, my
rear attach point is holding up well, bit then I only have about 200 hours
on the airplane. Jack had the Montana folks modify the kit to move the
attach point on the float one bay further back, which is another good
solution. I wouldn't be surprised if that is their standard for floats
destined for the Elite now. Also. Montana have parts for the Elite to move
the rear attach point on the fuselage to the back of the door sill, but if
you have already enclosed the floor, you won't want to go that way.

The Montana floats have so many positive things going for them over the
Murphy 1800s, but they have one big negative - they are substantially
heavier, so if you go that way you really have to apply for an increase in
gross weight. I got my Elite approved at 2200 lb. I don't know whether it
was decisive or not, but I did have a letter from Montana saying the floats
had been drop tested at that weight.

Al

-----Original Message-----
From: mike.davis@dcsol.com [mailto:mike.davis@dcsol.com] On Behalf Of
flex@dcsol.com
Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2010 1:07 PM
To: rebel-builders@dcsol.com
Subject: [rebel-builders] Re: firewall plates and floor stiffness, and Elite
mods in general.

-------- Forwarded Message ---------
Original: DATE..... 6/5/2005 7:23 AM
Original: FROM..... MBETTI@UP.NET