Sharing builders ideas

I had the pleasure a couple of weeks ago of popping over to the UK in the car with my wife … This time on the overnight boat .. This takes a snip at around 11 hours from Jersey to Portsmouth ! But pretty much always runs come rain or shine or gales or whatever

Paul HS had kindly put my in contact with another builder during my ‘hot oil’ period and it was this chap along with another in Holland who kindly sent me pictures of intakes and oil cooler sizes that delivered the knowledge I needed to fix the problem

Charles (Blount) is a fantastic character and kindly arranged to meet up with us at a very small grass strip just North of Andover.

G-YELP has flown many more hours than mine so it’s good to share experiences and ideas on little tweaks that have been made.

I particularly liked the fitting of the top wing roots to the wing vs fitting them to the cabane .. I had found that mine were catching as the wing swung through its arc to seat and this easy change means there won’t be that catch .. And it looks like I can trim down the width as well using this method which I think will be neater .. I will add pictures later when I have switched their fittings

Charles had also put a small rubber edge on the lower wing fittings to soften the joint between alloy edged root and the side covering of the body… Will get on line and source some of that.

Charles cockpit seemed much roomier but I think that’s because his panel is the square type which gives much better leg access .. Mine is still very F1 type access and I was watching last weeks F1 from Azerbaijan where the drivers support their upper half whilst sliding their legs in then bum down but have to raise both arms skyward to then bring them down into the the cockpit 😄

I also spotted a 12v socket mounted on the left with wires running under the seat … Under and rear seat back heating ! How ‘cool’ is that ! !

We had  great chat about loads of other bits before departing … Many thanks Charles and look forward to flying mine over sometime