Pimp My Ride – The Adventure Begins Anew: TA-ification of SZ

Contents

Introduction

In the immediate aftermath of my New Mexico crash in early June, I was pretty sure I was done with glider racing for sure, and probably out of soaring entirely.  However, after a couple of weeks spent investigating other possible non-flying hobbies like competitive knitting or haiku composition, I came to my senses and started looking for a new ride.  Within a short time I sealed a deal to buy Sam Zimmerman’s 15/18m V2cx from David Mellon of Park City, Utah and now all I had to do now was go get it.  This worked out OK for me (sort of) because I wanted to get back out to Moriarty to clean out my trailer in preparation for selling it, and if I was already there, how much farther could it be to Park City UT? (a LOT farther – yikes!)  So, on the 3rd of July, almost a month to the day after totaling my V2bx I started the cross country trek, ultimately covering around 4,000 miles in 5 days.

rubber bathroom sink stopper and PVC plumbing pipe

4,000 miles in 5 days (forgot to turn on my SPOT the first day)

 

After I got the glider home, and got a couple of flights in, I started to realize that I had some work to do to get SZ competition ready.  With my old setup there was a place for everything, and everything was in its place.  Instrumentation was what I wanted and where I wanted it.  The trailer brakes were adjusted, wiring and connectors appropriate for my pickup/camper setup, and rigging/towout gear in place.  I could go through a competition day without missing a beat or needing anything that wasn’t right where it was supposed to be.  It was actually somewhat of a shock to realize how much needed to be done, even though SZ is newer and much lower time (both in hours and in flights) than my dearly departed TA.  So, I started ‘pimping my ride’.

Trailer:

I think SZ spent some time in Europe, because the trailer hitch wiring was an awful combination of European and American wiring standards.  Apparently what Sam did when it was time to come into the States was to get a European-style vehicle-end connector and then wire a U.S.-style 4-flat plug into it for connection to his crew car.  I decided to cut out (literally) the middle-man, so I got a heavy-duty 4-flat plug with a 4 ft pigtail from eTrailers.com, some adhesive-treated 1″ heat-shrink tubing from McMaster-Carr and commenced major surgery.  The result was a much neater hitch wiring installation, as shown below.  While I was there, I noticed that the hitch safety chains had seen some hard times, so I replaced them too – check!

Original hitch wiring

Original hitch wiring

New hitch wiring

New hitch wiring



The trailer was ‘bumping’ pretty badly on the way home from Utah, and this is usually an indication that the brake adjustment is too loose to engage the brakes when the surge tube compresses during a stop.  So, one of the first things I did when I got home was to jack it up and adjust the brakes.  It took a looonnng time to ratchet the brake adjustments to the point where they would grab at all, so I think it had been a while (never?) since they had been adjusted.  After adjustment, the ‘bumping’ on stops went away entirely – success!  Greased the surge compression tube as well while I was at that end of the trailer – check!

The tires looked pretty good, but Sam told me they had been on the trailer for several years when he sold it to Dave, and Dave told me he hadn’t replaced them during the three years or so he had owned the glider.  Off to National Tire & Battery for a new set – check!

On Cobra trailers, there is a bolt that extends rearward from the ramp and engages a hole in the back gate.  This arrangement keeps the ramp assembly secured in the trailer, but the back gate sheet metal is too flimsy for this purpose, and the bolt quickly enlarges the hole to the point where the ramp is free to bounce around.  As I did with my old ride, I pop-riveted a large steel automotive fender washer over the enlarged hole so the ramp bolt engages the hole in the washer, preventing any further damage to the back gate sheet metal – check!

Cobra back gate repair

Cobra back gate repair

 

Cobra trailers have a neat ramp system that includes a folding center rail.  The ramp is pulled out and then the center rail is unfolded to allow the glider to be rolled out.  This is very elegant, but the support structure for the center rail is infamous for catching rudders when the ramp assembly is slid back into the trailer.  I solved this problem on my old ride with a ‘rudder saver’ modification, using a strip of flexible plastic pop-riveted to the outside rail on one end, and glued to the hinge point of the center rail support.  Installed the same on my new ride – check!

rudder saver in action

rudder saver in action

rudder saver with ramp center rail deployed

rudder saver with ramp center rail deployed

Glider:

The pee system installed in SZ is a long plastic tube that goes under the seat pan and then exits the plane well aft of the gear well.  This is usable but not very nice; that long tube makes for all sorts of potential problems, not the least of which is possible freezing at altitude if it isn’t all blown out properly after each use.  When David explained it’s operation to me, I kept wondering why this separate ‘blow-out’ fitting was necessary, until I saw the length of the tubing and thought about sub-freezing temps in the Utah mountains.  TA came to me with a ‘reverse periscope’ system where a 15-20″ long tube is extended down through a guide tube and out the bottom of fuselage to pee, and then retracted between uses.  Nothing to freeze, and no long tubing that has to be flushed.  So, I had to recreate that entire system, including the fuselage hole, the guide tube, the pee tube and all the fittings, as shown in the photos below. A big challenge in this project was getting the fuselage hole lined up with the seat pan hole, and for this I found my wife’s neat little digital camera to be of great use.  In addition to documenting the entire process, I used the camera to ‘see’ underneath the seat pan by sticking the camera lens down the hole for the control stick.  I had to experiment a bit with the pointing angle and the flash settings, but eventually I got enough good photos so I could mark and drill the holes properly.  Another challenge was somehow securing the guide tube to the bottom of the fuselage so that it was properly lined up with the exit hole and was supported well enough so that it didn’t just flop over with the seat pan out.  For this purpose, I found that a rubber bathroom sink stopper, cut down appropriately to miss the existing cabling and filled with silicone rubber did the trick.  The rubber stopper offered enough bearing surface so I could glue it to the inner fuselage skin and the silicone rubber sealant held the guide tube in place securely.  Then I put everything back together and performed a ‘dry run’ (literally) – check!

IMG_0045

Guide tube constructed from modified bathroom rubber stopper and PVC pipe

Silicone sealant/adhesive for mechanical stability

Silicone sealant/adhesive for mechanical stability

 

Installed on bottom inside fuselage surface

Installed on bottom inside fuselage surface

Completed installation

Completed installation



Sam had an Ilec SN-10B and vario installed as original equipment, and I believe Dave purchased the USB adapter that features a USB panel connector for database uploads and flight downloads, along with a feed-through serial connector for the SN-10 remote.  However, Dave never installed the adapter – he would just temporarily connect the adapter to the existing panel serial connector for database/software updates.  I was certain I would soon lose the $300 adapter, so I decided to install it permanently.  This took some doing, but I got it done without screwing things up too badly – check!

Completed installation of SN10 USB adapter

Completed installation of SN10 USB adapter



On my first flight with SZ, I was wondering what was wrong with my view out the canopy when I realized there was a LOT of canopy reflection/glare coming off the instrument panel glare shield.  It had been so long since I had fixed this problem on TA with a adhesive-backed black felt treatment that I had forgotten what it was like beforehand.  When I did the work on TA I had to buy 10 yards (180 square feet) from Central Shippee of Bloomingdale NJ (http://www.thefeltpeople.com).  I sold off a lot of it to other glider pilots, but I had cleverly held back just enough for one more glare shield treatment.  This adhesive-backed felt is tricky stuff to work with – the adhesive is very sticky, and if you don’t get it right the first time, it’s almost impossible to get it back off again without ruining the piece.  Since I only had enough for one application and no room for errors, I was very careful to ‘measure twice, cut once’.  The good news is that this stuff is very flexible, so it can be molded around complex surfaces without having to cut too many darts or make other adjustments.  In addition to treating the glare shield, I had just enough left to also treat the front slanted air vent area – check!

Let's see now, how does this go?

Let’s see now, how does this go?

Completed glare shield

Completed glare shield

 

Still need to treat the vent area

Still need to treat the vent area

Completed project - check!

Completed project – check!

 

Electrical System:

Before even taking delivery of SZ, I had already ordered a new K2 Energy K2B12V10EB 10AHr Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery from http://www.k2battery.com/technology.html to replace one of the standard SLA batteries.  10AHr LFP packs are about half the weight of an equivalent SLA battery and are roughly the equivalent of a 15 AHr SLA pack due to their much flatter discharge curve.  I had three of them in TA, but the insurance company decided they were a part of the glider and wouldn’t give them back (they did promptly write me a check for the full insured value of the policy, so I’m not complaining!).  I plan to use the K2 battery as my primary energy source, and one of the 3 SLAs (with inline fuse added!) as a backup.  Next year I’ll buy another new K2 and dump one of the SLAs, and by year 3 I’ll have completely replaced all the SLAs with K2s – check!

Note the inline battery fuse on the K2 battery on the right

Note the inline battery fuse on the K2 battery

 

On one of my first two flights with SZ, I was checking out the Borgelt B40 backup vario and discovered that it died when I selected the ‘external’ power option.  After some investigation I found the reason was that the vario had never been connected to glider power at all – it would only work using it’s 9V aux battery.  While I like the idea of having an aux 9V battery, I wasn’t all that comfortable with having it as the only available power option.   Adding glider power to the Borgelt also required some work to route 12V to a spare connector on the power bus – check!

I also noticed that the Ilec SN-10B vario audio wasn’t nearly loud enough, even at full volume (and even with my hearing aids turned on).  Some investigation and manual study revealed that an external speaker could be installed, but only after opening up the SN-10’s case and physically clipping the wires to the internal speaker, yikes!  Sure would have been nice if Ilec had provided a more elegant way of doing this (like a connector jumper), but I was able to get it done with no more than the usual jitters.  I mounted the speaker at the bottom of the instrument panel, pointing down toward my left thigh, and now I can actually hear that wonderful Ilec vario sound.  I wound up moving the Borgelt speaker down to the same area – check!

I believe Dave also added a transponder and a ClearNav unit, but the transponder electrical wiring left a bit to be desired (I’m a confessed neatnik, so take this with a grain of salt).  The power line to the transponder included an inline fuse, but there was already a panel-mounted breaker on that same circuit.  Removed the inline fuse, trimmed and reconnected the transponder cable – check!

Rigging and Tow-out Gear:

Between my old glider and my new one, I wound up with four wingstands, two tail dollies, two wing dollies and two tow bars.  The tail dolly and tow bar that came with SZ is a really nice set that Sam says he got from M&H (Schemp-Hirth dealer & repair facility in Elmira NY); the tow bar has a really cool attachment that lifts up the tail with very little effort, and the whole thing is built like a cross between a Swiss watch and a main battle tank.  Unfortunately, when I use that system with my F-150 pickup crew vehicle, the horizontal tail of the glider doesn’t quite clear the pickup bed, which means I’m sure to ding it at some point – a bad thing.  The tail dolly and tow bar from TA isn’t anywhere near as nice, but the horizontal tail clears the pickup bed, so I’m going with my old system and plan to put the new stuff up for sale – anyone want a really nice tow bar and tail dolly for a Ventus/Discus?

The new glider comes with the superb WingRigger single-man rigging system (http://www.wingrigger.com/), and I suppose I’m actually going to have to bite the bullet and learn how to use the darned thing.  I had gotten so used to my ‘el-cheapo’ single-man system featuring a roll of carpet and an extra wing stand that I’m sort of philosophically opposed to the high-priced spread.  Unfortunately the 2-panel arrangement of the 15/18 V2cx doesn’t really lend itself to the carpet roll technique, so I may be screwed.  Ah well, if I’m going to be screwed, at least the WingRigger system lets me relax and enjoy the ride ;-).

Future work:

Well, my ride won’t be fully ‘pimped’ until the trailer and the glider have ‘TA’ on them instead of ‘SZ’.  My wife and I may be able to do the trailer decals on our own, but the glider ID’s will probably have to wait until this winter, when I make what has become my annual ‘spiff up’ pilgrimage to Heinz Weissenbuehler of M&H in Elmira, NY.  However this year, instead of ‘Timifying TA’, I will be asking Heinz to ‘TA-ify SZ’ ;-)

Frank Paynter (TA)

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