Da Plane Da Plane

It's been years in the making and is not done yet.  We started the project sometime in 2007.  This is a Vans RV9A that we built from a kit.

N9XG

I was back in Washington in July and we were modifying the fuel system.  We added a shut-off valve for each wing tank.  This entailed modifying a couple fuel lines.  As usual, nothing goes as quick as expected.  The fuel lines (which should have been a one day task) have not been finished.  Once done, they should be a quick install.  Then an engine start and some taxiing around just to head up the engine.
    After this is completed we're ready to submit papers to the FAA for our airworthiness inspection.  Stay tuned.

Oh By the way, If you're interested in the background of the plane project you can look at some of the older posts like those from 2012 and there is also the old blog I started with the plane project.

Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 

Psalm 63.3

Our trip to the Med 2017

This posting is a work in progress.  Selecting photos and working to get a more pleasing format is ongoing.  But such as it is, here it is.

It's been almost a year since our last cruise.  In October 2017 we cruised to the Med for forty-nine days.   Here are a few pictures from the Med cruise.  I have thousands of more pictures but here are a few.  Click on any to see a larger view.

    Crossing the Atlantic took six days and brought us to the Azores.  This trip took us to many places I'd never been.

 We left Ft Lauderdale late in October so the weather was often on the cool side.

Boyd and I made it a point to have a local beer in each port we visited.  Here we are in Horta

Here are a few examples of life imitating art.

Cartegena

Columbus Monument

Anh with some stiff

View from atop Columbus Monument

View of the street below

Nov 1 - Lots of walking

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Never want to lose your head

Big Hole

Palma

Palma

Florence Perseus w/ Medusa's head

Florence

Florence David

Florence

Florence

Florence was awesome if you love art and history.  This is where the Renaissance began.  Everywhere you look there is something of beauty.














Pompei - Nov 10-12
    I was surprised to see how large and well developed the city was.  This was not some humble village, but rather spacious and beautiful homes.

Lost a duck the other day. I'm convinced it's raccoons. That means we're down to two ducks. I don't know whether to buy new ducklings or wait to see if they will have babies. Have ordered some traps and I will see what I can do to eliminate the predators that have been killing my birds.

Waking the beast

The Beast

Getting the beast running has been a high priority for me of late.  My neighbor Joey was able to identify that the starter was defective.  We struggled to get it out, but were unable.  Then a friend (Jonathan) with experience on this kind of equipment had some available time and was able to get the get those last two hard to reach nuts.  I think it take patience and forearms the size of a child.  You wouldn't believe the tight space into which the starter is mounted.

In any case, I took the starter in and had it rebuilt at a local auto electronic shop.  In the meantime, Jonathan replaced all the filters, changed the oil and serviced the entire rig.  This included adjusting the track tension and getting lubricant to the planetary drive and all the "bogey" rollers.  

In the process I learned how to prime the fuel line.  The beast has two fuel filters and when you change them it introduces air to the fuel line.  The process reminded me of bleeding brakes only more tedious. 

Business end of the Brush Cutter

Once we got it started we turned our attention to the attachments I had marshaled in our down time.  The brush hog weighs in at almost a ton, cuts through a 6 inch tree and spits out chips while clearing a 72 inch swath.   It has three blades that spin very fast and have lots of inertia with them.  The tip of a blade is visible in the picture.  It is a truly awesome tool.  

Root rake / Grapple

I also purchased a root rake/grapple for pulling up and transporting material that wasn't pulverized by the brush hog.

I hope this doesn't sound like whining.  This is not how I pictured retirement.  While I enjoy not having an office or job to go to, I am very busy.  Have not been fishing in a while and need to fix that soon.  I need to get the farm infrastructure established.  So far it's just land and there is much to do.  I think I had a mental image of me living a genteel laid back life, but I've been wrong about other things too...

Back from our recent cruise

We recently returned from a seven day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean.  You can see the route below.  In all honesty, I enjoy the ship so much that I wouldn't care if we ever came to port.  

It's been about eight months since my last post.  I have many reasons but no excuses.  Since then we purchased ten acres of land and I'm working on turning it into a farm.  

To that end I also purchased a skid loader to do the beastie work.  As a matter of fact I call it my little beastie.  Here's a picture of a different ASV 4810.  Mine looks better, but I haven't snapped any pictures of it yet.

I ordered a brush cutter for it and expect it to be delivered tomorrow afternoon.



Our life here is SW Florida is a busy one.  Hope to get back into the blog routine.

Progress on the plane continues

I've been here in the Pacific Northwest since the first of June.  My number one priority has been getting the plane ready to fly.  Today, we rigged the rudder and pulled maintenance on the magneto.  The magneto had a cross threaded screw on the P-lead.  Don't know when that happened, but I'm glad I found it.  So last night with the help of a couple of chapter members, we pulled the mag off.  Then this morning I got some help fixing the problem and putting it all back together again. Because the Mag had been off completely, we had to re-time it.  That was a new experience for me.

We are making good progress and expect to mount the wings later this week.   There are just a few things to finish first.  Once the wings are on the plane it gets much wider and harder to work around.  Bob is in charge of all things electric.  Mostly that means lighting; landing, navigation, and strobes.  In addition there is an electric trim motor and and two servos for the auto-pilot.  Bob is also working on installing an antennae in the left wingtip.  It will provide the signal for the VOR and do it while hidden out of sight in the wingtip.

Here are a couple shots of Mt Rainier I snapped today.  The first one was taken about 0800 and this second was taken around 1800.

If you want to see any of these pictures full size, just click on it and they should go big on you.

Last Thursday we went to the Arlington Air show.  Right away we met these very nice people from Oregon; Ed and Marsha.  Their plane is very similar to ours so we hung around to see how they did various things on the plane.  They were very encouraging and we spent a lot of time visiting with them.Here is a picture of Bob and Linda after a lunch of beef brisket and  pulled pork.  It was poor planning to go on a Thursday as there were not as many planes to look at as there would have been a day later.  But we had a good time.

My buddy Boyd and I did some time on at the BBQ a couple weeks ago and his wife Pam snapped this picture of us.

My sweetheart will be joining me in a couple weeks.  I miss her and am looking forward to driving home together.  This is a picture I took the last time we went to Cayo Costa.  I think we'll take a couple weeks to get there as we are not on any particular schedule.  I hope to visit a few friends along the way.