wheel well plates

[Andy Bowman]

hi,

my partner, Clint, and our 1800 amphibious mounted on a christavia mk-1
with and 0-320 landed on a lake for their first time yesterday. all
went well except for a few leaks a a bit slower takeoff than
anticipated.

when Clint built the floats, he omitted the wheel well plates because
he was concerned about access to service the main gear components. the
largest quantity of water seemed to enter the float from the wheel
wells and weep forward through the limber holes into the large
compartment directly ahead of the step.

my questions for the evening are, has anyone else ever flown/landed the
amphibs without the plates? did you have a good deal of resistance to
continues acceleration after a relatively high speed plane was reached
on takeoff? does anyone think that the high pressure water entering the
well without the plates could enhance the leak problems in this well?
does anyone have or would you be willing to take some pictures of the
plates installed. has anyone had to remove the plates to service the
wheels/suspension components?

the directions leave a great deal to be desired in this area and that
is part of the reason Clint left them off. he called the factory and
asked about them and got the normal vague advice from someone who had
never built a set of floats. we thought being above the step they would
only make things harder to fix, but now are seriously considering
retrofitting the plate.


any thoughts/help/pics would really be appreciated as the float season
is perfect right now here in northern Michigan, but soon our water will
become hard.

thanks in advance.

Andy



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[Drew Dalgleish]

Hi andy I haven't flown without the plates but with them on any
maintenance that you can't do from the top hatch requires removing the
wheel. I have the wheel R+R down to under 20min. after chasing many
hydraulic leaks. I Had large leaks in the same spot that I cured with a
couple large gobs of sikaflex around the bottom bolt that goes through the
side of the wheel well. It stopped the leak but I'll be in trouble if I
ever have to remove that bolt. Maybe you could seal it with an O-ring? Good
Luck

At 06:35 PM 9/19/2004 -0700, you wrote:

hi,

my partner, Clint, and our 1800 amphibious mounted on a christavia mk-1
with and 0-320 landed on a lake for their first time yesterday. all
went well except for a few leaks a a bit slower takeoff than
anticipated.

when Clint built the floats, he omitted the wheel well plates because
he was concerned about access to service the main gear components. the
largest quantity of water seemed to enter the float from the wheel
wells and weep forward through the limber holes into the large
compartment directly ahead of the step.

my questions for the evening are, has anyone else ever flown/landed the
amphibs without the plates? did you have a good deal of resistance to
continues acceleration after a relatively high speed plane was reached
on takeoff? does anyone think that the high pressure water entering the
well without the plates could enhance the leak problems in this well?
does anyone have or would you be willing to take some pictures of the
plates installed. has anyone had to remove the plates to service the
wheels/suspension components?

the directions leave a great deal to be desired in this area and that
is part of the reason Clint left them off. he called the factory and
asked about them and got the normal vague advice from someone who had
never built a set of floats. we thought being above the step they would
only make things harder to fix, but now are seriously considering
retrofitting the plate.


any thoughts/help/pics would really be appreciated as the float season
is perfect right now here in northern Michigan, but soon our water will
become hard.

thanks in advance.

Andy



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Drew





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[Andy Bowman]

thanks drew, we will start to mend the titanic at those bolts.

andy


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