SWTHG club winch

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hey Sam,

Those discs look a lot beefier!!! It looks like you'll get nearly 100% brake pad contact which should help a lot. Good work!!

[SamKellner]

Terry and I left at 4:AM Sunday, two weeks ago and made the 5hr trip to Hearne, Tx. Jack Yount instructs there. Jack's advice has been spot-on. He's bringing up a young generation of Reg11 pilots. A couple of the other locals were there also, Mick and Zack. It was great to fly with others.

Flying conditions were fairly breezy, but streight down the 1.5mi runway. The cloudbase was ~2500'. If these same conditions existed at Lewis XA31, and Terry and I had been flying alone, we would have probably called the day. But Jack did several PL and PLsurface off his tow rig with no trouble, made it look easy and really got good tows.

Terry had two short flights off our tow rig. Conditions were stronger for him being 135lb and on the 135sq. He displayed super pilot skills, just didn't have much of a flight either time. With both his flights being short, it didn't give time to tell how our tow rig performed with the latest mods. I suspect we'll end up going to a car disc and calipers.

Jack was observing my towing skills, as I was going for the PL sign-off, so I elected to tow with his winch. It was a super tow. Came off the trailer smooth and soon had enough ground clearance to forget about a premature release. It was a smooth climb to >2000' and a few wispies with the low ceiling. Having the vertical tail on made it like driving a truck.
Mick had found a spot and did a couple of turns to extend his flight and it was there for me too. Not really much to turn in but zero sink to mush in for a few minutes. The down wind leg was mostly crabbing. Landed near the windsock at breakdown area. I did get a reminder of how little flare is needed on windy days, but nothng broken.

With the long drive ahead of us, we loaded up and headed for the hills.

Yesterday it came in the mail: my new card with PL !!!

Fly far,
Sam
Southwest Texas Hang Gliders
Hawks Ch#4
USHPA Ch# 285

[Bob Kuczewski]

Terry had two short flights off our tow rig.

Let me give you both a big Texas .... YAHOO!! for your winch!!

Terry and I left at 4:AM Sunday, two weeks ago and made the 5hr trip to Hearne, Tx. Jack Yount instructs there. Jack's advice has been spot-on. He's bringing up a young generation of Reg11 pilots. A couple of the other locals were there also, Mick and Zack. It was great to fly with others.

Sounds like you should sign up Jack, Mick, and Zack ... if you haven't already. The price is right!

It's great to see you and Terry getting some air time. That deserves another big Texas .... YAHOO!!

Say "Hi" to Terry, Effie, and the rest of the club members for me. You're doing a fine job of leading your club, Sam!

[SamKellner]

Plan B.

We are looking at another winch. This one we've been working on just won't cut the mustard.

Eventhough the new winch is trailer mounted at this time, we will probably use it in the "truck jump" configuration.

[Bob Kuczewski]

If you don't mind me asking, what ended up being the problem with the winch? Maybe the lessons you've learned from it might help someone else.

Thanks in advance.

[SamKellner]

Hi Bob,

Not at all! Real good question.
Eventhough we enlarged the rotor and re-mounted the caliper for full contact, the brake fade remained.

Terry and I purchased a spring scale, 0to200lb. We tied the scale to a tree limb and then to the tow line. Terry watched the scale. I drove.

First I drove 20mph for 1000ft and the scale remained at a constant 80lb. Our hopes were high, at least.

But as soon as I accelerated to cruise, ~30mph, the scales fell to ~20lb.

Because the pads are too small, they heat up too much and the fluid does also. This causes it to slip.

We could try synthetic fluid that has a higher boiling point, but it would still be doubtful and might not preform much better.

We also purchased an auto brake rotor and calipers with the idea of r-n-r. To mount this new rotor/caliper it's gonna require a machine shop precision and take time.
It's a WIP.

So, Terry offered to buy this new winch. Al Hernandez has offered to drive his van and we are pitching in for gas to make the trip to Kansas City.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Thanks for the information Sam.

As someone without much experience in towing, I'm surprised that your previous brake system wasn't up to the task. What kind of a vehicle was that disc from originally? If it can't hold pressure on a 250 lb hang glider for very long, it makes me worry about how long it can hold back a much heavier car down a long grade!!

That also makes me wonder if you can find specifications for braking systems that might help you pick one without so much trial and error. If so, that might be helpful for other people building similar systems.

The one thing I've got to say about you Texas folks is that you don't let setbacks set you back. Where there's a will, there's a way!!

[MikeLake]

Fellow Hawks,

We added 2,000ft of spectra to the spool yesterday....

How do you find Spectra as tow line? How does it perform?
We use 2mm steel cable. This works quite well and is relatively cheap but it is heavy and doesn’t last for more than a couple of seasons.
It is also prone to ‘birds nesting’ and it kinks easy.
How much is Spectra and is it worth the extra cost?

Cheers

[SamKellner]

Hi Mike,

It's hard to think of steel tow line. Hey, whatever works. Large poly is heavy too, more noticable on nill wind days. First towing I saw was aerotowing with spectra. Then spectra on an ATOL platform, in ~2002. Spectra might blow over the fence easier because it is so much lighter?

Our new winch tows like an ATOL, as I remember. We are getting our rewind act together. It has ~3000ft of poly. We towed/tested it last week leaving the poly on. As soon as I find another spool to put the poly on, we will put the spectra on the new winch..

Not sure of prices. We were able to find some spectra >2,000", that was not being used and got a discount. We are looking to add some more I suppose but what we have is enough for the runways we use for practice.

Of course if we really got the act together, we'd get a chute and keep the spectra off the ground.

What area do you fly?

Best Regards,
Sam

[MikeLake]

Hi Mike,

It's hard to think of steel tow line. Hey, whatever works. Large poly is heavy too, more noticable on nill wind days. First towing I saw was aerotowing with spectra. Then spectra on an ATOL platform, in ~2002. Spectra might blow over the fence easier because it is so much lighter?

Our new winch tows like an ATOL, as I remember. We are getting our rewind act together. It has ~3000ft of poly. We towed/tested it last week leaving the poly on. As soon as I find another spool to put the poly on, we will put the spectra on the new winch..

Not sure of prices. We were able to find some spectra >2,000", that was not being used and got a discount. We are looking to add some more I suppose but what we have is enough for the runways we use for practice.

Of course if we really got the act together, we'd get a chute and keep the spectra off the ground.

What area do you fly?

Best Regards,
Sam

Steel line is ok and better than it sounds. At 2mm it has low drag but it is quite heavy. The worst attribute is its stiffness and the way it can bunch up.
But as I said it is relatively cheap and goes 2 or 3 seasons.
We always use chutes and can reel in before the line hits the ground.
I fly from the UK flatlands.

Regards Mike