Paul,
My name is Mike, I have been researching engines for my kit plane, I saw
your site which intrigued me about rotary engines. I was the Lancair fro
Tom Parkes runs on a 300hp 20b with constant speed or variable pitch
prop. I am building a Seawind, it seems as if this could be a good
match. I saw you have a Rhino image of a configuration in a Seawind. I
did a little more research about Seawind builders and rotary engines.
There is a guy named Doug Fir building one, would you have any
information about the viability of this setup?
Thanks,
Mike
I'll Let Doug himself respond to that as he is on here.
We have at least one other Sea Wind builder besides Doug.
--
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.
Hi Mike,
Bob Darrah and Russ Kotlarek are both going with a 20B. I believe we have
another person on this discussion group here with the first name Marc. who
is also going that route. Russ just ordered parts to do an all new aluminum
housing (except for the wide intermediate housing) engine with Iannetti $$
ceramic seals. I personally want to go with an all aluminum two rotor,
whether that means a very enhanced 13B P-port or the new generation 16X due
out in a few years. There are lots of issues to consider, but one thing
going in our favor is that by losing engine weight we can move the battery
back from the nose and lose another 50lbs in heavy wiring cables. I believe
the SeaWind on a strict diet could easily lose 250lbs and that means it
doesn't need as much hp. The only time a seaplane really could use the
extra muscle is for those few seconds on water takeoffs to break free of the
water suction. The design started out flying with 200Hp. Then 250Hp was
considered ideal as the plane became more reinforced. Now 300Hp is standard
and TIO-540s, and turbines are flying and the design became a IMHO a little
piggy. Like many home builts, the design suffers from Hp creep.
Regards
Doug
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