Plastic lines on 1800 Amphibs
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:46 am
Thought I would take this quiet time to put out two cents worth of my
knowledge on plumbing your amphibs.
I've stood up for the MAM supplied 3/8" Parker Parflex for some time...with
Howard going 7 summers and never leaking as much as a drop... even after his
hard water arrival the gear worked fine to load onto a trailer! While
discussing this plastic line with the gentleman I have assembling our wheel
skis he was cautioning me how his lines where like glass when he removed his
set from his Luscombe (that's right Luscombe 8E -150HP) this fall. I said
nonsense...I have the lines right here that I took out of FOKM when I was
stretching the floats and they are about 8 years old or so. I showed him
that I could bend the lines right in half without cracking.....he then took
the line...looked for the yellowed area of the lines that sat between the
float deck and the forward strut...bent it (or should I say attempted to
bend) and it shattered like a nice piece of priceless crystal dropped in a
jewelry store.
Guess what I am saying is the lines are excellent anywhere they are hidden
from the sun. What I would do if I was anyone with the plastic lines is to
make a streamline cover to keep the sun off the lines especially where they
come out of the float and into the forward mounting strut. This area is the
worst because it has the added help of sun reflection and magnification from
the alum deck of the float. The upper area where it comes out of the strut
and into the fuselage didn't shatter...but it did crack open when bent. This
area would be a little harder to make a cover for...but not impossible. Even
"tin" tape over the lines would stop the UV from changing the nylon
properties.
Cheers,
Wayne
-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
knowledge on plumbing your amphibs.
I've stood up for the MAM supplied 3/8" Parker Parflex for some time...with
Howard going 7 summers and never leaking as much as a drop... even after his
hard water arrival the gear worked fine to load onto a trailer! While
discussing this plastic line with the gentleman I have assembling our wheel
skis he was cautioning me how his lines where like glass when he removed his
set from his Luscombe (that's right Luscombe 8E -150HP) this fall. I said
nonsense...I have the lines right here that I took out of FOKM when I was
stretching the floats and they are about 8 years old or so. I showed him
that I could bend the lines right in half without cracking.....he then took
the line...looked for the yellowed area of the lines that sat between the
float deck and the forward strut...bent it (or should I say attempted to
bend) and it shattered like a nice piece of priceless crystal dropped in a
jewelry store.
Guess what I am saying is the lines are excellent anywhere they are hidden
from the sun. What I would do if I was anyone with the plastic lines is to
make a streamline cover to keep the sun off the lines especially where they
come out of the float and into the forward mounting strut. This area is the
worst because it has the added help of sun reflection and magnification from
the alum deck of the float. The upper area where it comes out of the strut
and into the fuselage didn't shatter...but it did crack open when bent. This
area would be a little harder to make a cover for...but not impossible. Even
"tin" tape over the lines would stop the UV from changing the nylon
properties.
Cheers,
Wayne
-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------