Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: john francis
John,Before you make a mistake you might regret forever, please check the plans, which call for 7/32" floor thickness. 3/8" would be overkill and add unnecessary weight. I myself would never deviate from the plans (unless the changes were really necessary or cool-looking) used 1/4" since that is what was available.There seems to be a real power vacuum on this list since the "resignation". I am sure it will all be sorted out in due time. Applications for the Board of Curmudgeons are still being accepted. But, in the end, the purists will prevail, as they rightly always do. Dan HelsperPuryear, TN-----Original Message-----

Original Posted By: "Douwe Blumberg"
Dan,Thank you very much for the Curmudgeon Alert. I would absolutely agree with you.Stick with 7/32" or the more common 1/4". I do, however, have a purist confessionto make. I built my fuselage while I was in college. A friend gaveme a fantastic deal on space in his hangar so I was able to build. When I gotto the point of adding the floor to the fuselage I was really scraping pennies.I searched around and actually found a plywood importer in Baltimore thatdealt with aircraft plywood at a great price. So I skipped classes one day andleft at 4:00am on the 16 hour roundtrip drive to Baltimore in my old beat upFord Escort. When I finally arrived (this was pre GPS and internet days) I wentto the dock to pick up my beautiful sheet of 1/4" 4' x 8' mahogany plywoodonly to find that it was 3/8"! Well since I had spent the next several weeksof food money and rent on gas and plywood I couldn't possibly imagine wastingthe trip. I went back to my car and did a quick calculation and found that bymaking the floor out of 3/8", I'd add about 5lbs to my Piet. After thinkingit over for a while I decided it was worth it. So I tied the sheet of plywoodto the roof and watched it slap my Escort for the next 8 hours. It only slidoff once, while on the beltway around Washington D.C. Amazingly it wasn't damaged!So.... I now have to live with a 626 lb. Piet instead of a 621lb. Piet.Was the 5 lbs. worth it? Absolutely! I got to go back home and glue my flooron... and tell the story!Don EmchNX899DERead this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... __________

Original Posted By: Oscar Zuniga
Sometimes : as they say , even a blind hog will find an acorn . Well I guess Ifound my acorn. I fretted about my sheet of 7/32 ply that I had paid a hugesum of dough for only to see that most builders use 1/4 on the floor. I finallysaid ,"the hell with it" and used it anyway. Now I find I am in good steadwith powers of Curmudeondum. What a nice discovery!Read this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... __________

Original Posted By: "john francis"
Yeah, he's the Jedi master. I look forward to having him control my mind at Brodheadthis year.You had a link in your post, William, giving Doc's aviation background/biography.He's an impressive guy.--------Kevin "Axel" PurteeRebuilding NX899KPAustin/San Marcos, TXRead this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... ___Subject: Pietenpol-List: Re: Fuselage Width....Curmudeon/purist alert...scrambleto fill