Living in S.E. Alaska means you think “water” and how to allow/accommodate 160 inches of rain a year. When I ordered my kit from Quad City, it was a given that it would eventually become a float plane. Ketchikan has one of the highest concentrations of float plane traffic in the world due to the infinite water landing fields available here. It seemed natural to build a “keel” to the fuselage fabric bottom and allow water to escape through sea plane grommets. Although this modification was designed for a watery environment, I would think that all Challengers could benefit from this modification to accommodate rain or conscientious, vigorous wash downs.
The center 1/2″ tubing is made from 1/2″ CPVC pipe (non-corroding). Four lengths of 3/4’x 3/4″x 1/16″ aluminum angle iron is cut to length and riveted to the bottom 1/2″ tubing at the upright aluminum stringer ribs (Photo 1).
A length of 1/2″ CPVC pipe is cut and riveted to the cross pieces starting at the 1/2″ inch tubing supporting the bottom of the nose cone (Photo 2) and ending just aft of the 1″ bottom tubing aft of the forward fuselage brace (Photo 3).
Rear View Mirrors on a Challenger – Mike Round
These are bicycle mirrors that fit into handle bars or, in this case, 3/4″ pvc. I bolted the pvc pipe into the framing of the forward door frame aluminum angle. These mirrors allow me a “visual” fuel gauge, check on my tail strobe operation, check the condition of my passenger, and look aft for “unusual” goings on in the tail/motor area as well as check for large jet engine intakes coming up from behind!! Clearing turns are great but when you are the slowest traffic in high traffic areas even the initiation of a turn could be hazardous when you don’t know how far behind your traffic is.
Puddle Jumper Floats – Modification – Mike Round
Here are a couple photos of the plates that Gary Freitag and I made to
protect the longerons from damage when making a less than perfect water
landing on Puddle Jumper floats.
The bearing plate was cut from a 1/2 inch thick nylon sheet. (Photos 438 and 437) The bearing surface of the plate was shaped by using a 2 inch hole cutter on a drill press. I cut about 1/4 inch, or half way, through the
thickness of the bearing plate with the hole cutter for the full length of the contact surface. I added an additional 1/4 inch bolt to stabilize the
plate on the longeron. The size and dimensions of the bearing plate are
arbitrary but the addition of the plate increases the bearing surface on the longeron greatly and provides relief from the concentrated pressure point of the forward stainless steel stabilizer bracket. At the very least, be
advised to put the large fender washer provided by Puddle Jumper between the stabilizer bracket and the longeron. the instructions do not make this clear and I had mistakenly put the fender washer on the inside between the longeron and the nyloc nut. (Another Challenger owner did the very same thing and sustained the exact same damage as I encountered in the first couple of hours of flying on floats.)
I also put a nylon Super-Tough ultra light saddle from Aircraft Spruce on
the longeron on the inside before adding a washer and nyloc nut. (photo 435)
In addition to providing safety from damaging the longerons, it provides and excellent support bracket for the morse control cables which tend to flex and rip the outside fabric. It’s an easy modification and I believe that
it’s good insurance from damaging the longeron.
