---------------------------------------------------------- Kolb-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Fri 12/27/13: 7 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 12:50 PM - Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage (lownslow) 2. 02:54 PM - Re: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage (Dennis Rowe) 3. 03:07 PM - Re: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage (Larry Cottrell) 4. 03:23 PM - Re: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage (kinne russ) 5. 05:07 PM - Re: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage (John Hauck) 6. 07:47 PM - Re: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage (Dennis Rowe) 7. 09:47 PM - Re: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage (Larry Cottrell) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 12:50:03 PM PST US Subject: Kolb-List: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage From: "lownslow" mind if I jump in here with a question? I'm curious about heater setups, since it came up in this thread. I have a Mk III C with a Rotax 670 being installed and since I am in Colorado I wanted to see if there is an effective way to pipe heat into the cockpit (it's fully enclosed) without a lot of fuss and engineering. Would anyone that's done it share your results and satisfaction with your setup? I'd appreciate it. I guess from the few discussions I've had with other Kolb owners, I had ruled it out as something that doesn't work well, so had resigned myself to wearing a warm set of extreme sport coveralls and maybe not fly some days that are too cold but would love to get educated from some of the others on this list who may have enjoyed success in this realm. I'm a newbie here and have only had my Kolb for 3 months. It's just now dawning on me, with John Hauck's experience flying up in AK, he may also have some wisdom to share.... Thanks so much for all ideas and opinions! Mike Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=416248#416248 ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 02:54:03 PM PST US Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage From: Dennis Rowe Plumb a motorcycle radiator inside your cockpit with a 12 volt fan on it. Dennis "Skid" Rowe Mk3, 690L-70, Leechburg, PA > On Dec 27, 2013, at 3:49 PM, "lownslow" wrote: > > > mind if I jump in here with a question? > > I'm curious about heater setups, since it came up in this thread. I have a Mk III C with a Rotax 670 being installed and since I am in Colorado I wanted to see if there is an effective way to pipe heat into the cockpit (it's fully enclosed) without a lot of fuss and engineering. Would anyone that's done it share your results and satisfaction with your setup? I'd appreciate it. I guess from the few discussions I've had with other Kolb owners, I had ruled it out as something that doesn't work well, so had resigned myself to wearing a warm set of extreme sport coveralls and maybe not fly some days that are too cold but would love to get educated from some of the others on this list who may have enjoyed success in this realm. I'm a newbie here and have only had my Kolb for 3 months. It's just now dawning on me, with John Hauck's experience flying up in AK, he may also have some wisdom to share.... > > Thanks so much for all ideas and opinions! > > Mike > > > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=416248#416248 > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 03:07:18 PM PST US Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage From: Larry Cottrell I'm not sure how cold is too cold? I decided that rather than try to winterize my engine, I would just fly it every once and a while. Moisture is not one of our problems here. I have an "electric vest" (Chili vest is the brand, but there are many new items on the market now that are designed for motor cycle gear, that weren't available when I bought my vest. There is everything from pants to gloves, and at not that bad a price. All of which either run off your plane battery or regular batteries.) Myself, I hate to be bundled up to where I can't move, so the vest works great. I just wear the vest, plug it into a cigar lighter plug on the plane, Wear a "wild rag" (Silk cowboy scarf), or a gaiter would do, a pair of insulated bibs from Cabela's. I use a pair of neophreme bogs on my feet and slip a rag wool stocking cap over my headset. I just finished an hour and half flight checking out the Coyote populations and doing some touch and goes in the pattern. I stayed quite warm except for my left wrist, which had been in a draft where my enclosure is gaped. My enclosure wraps around the pilot's seat but is open at the back. So basically all it does is keep the wind off me. The outside temps were at 41 degrees when I landed. When I had the air cooled two strokes on the plane I had fashioned a heater that would pipe in the air from the engine. Quite frankly the Chilli vest made all that work unnecessary. If I were to fly for a longer period of time, the first thing that would get cold would be my feet, but I can stand an hour and half with no discomfort. I my opinion if you can keep the wind off you, dressing properly is a whole lot easier than all the engineering you would have to do, and you would still wear the same amount of clothes that I just described. You however may disagree. Larry On Fri, Dec 27, 2013 at 1:49 PM, lownslow wrote: > > mind if I jump in here with a question? > > I'm curious about heater setups, since it came up in this thread. I have > a Mk III C with a Rotax 670 being installed and since I am in Colorado I > wanted to see if there is an effective way to pipe heat into the cockpit > (it's fully enclosed) without a lot of fuss and engineering. Would anyone > that's done it share your results and satisfaction with your setup? I'd > appreciate it. I guess from the few discussions I've had with other Kolb > owners, I had ruled it out as something that doesn't work well, so had > resigned myself to wearing a warm set of extreme sport coveralls and maybe > not fly some days that are too cold but would love to get educated from > some of the others on this list who may have enjoyed success in this realm. > I'm a newbie here and have only had my Kolb for 3 months. It's just now > dawning on me, with John Hauck's experience flying up in AK, he may also > have some wisdom to share.... > > Thanks so much for all ideas and opinions! > > Mike > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=416248#416248 > > -- *If you forward this email, or any part of it, please remove my email address before sending.* ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 03:23:36 PM PST US Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage From: kinne russ I'm sure John H will tell you about his Chili vest! -- elec. heated vests, gloves, sox, cushions etc are all great. On Dec 27, 2013, at 3:49 PM, lownslow wrote: > > mind if I jump in here with a question? > > I'm curious about heater setups, since it came up in this thread. I have a Mk III C with a Rotax 670 being installed and since I am in Colorado I wanted to see if there is an effective way to pipe heat into the cockpit (it's fully enclosed) without a lot of fuss and engineering. Would anyone that's done it share your results and satisfaction with your setup? I'd appreciate it. I guess from the few discussions I've had with other Kolb owners, I had ruled it out as something that doesn't work well, so had resigned myself to wearing a warm set of extreme sport coveralls and maybe not fly some days that are too cold but would love to get educated from some of the others on this list who may have enjoyed success in this realm. I'm a newbie here and have only had my Kolb for 3 months. It's just now dawning on me, with John Hauck's experience flying up in AK, he may also have some wisdom to share.... > > Thanks so much for all ideas and opinions! > > Mike > > > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=416248#416248 > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 05:07:55 PM PST US From: "John Hauck" Subject: RE: Kolb-List: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage It's just now dawning on me, with John Hauck's experience flying up in AK, he may also have some wisdom to share.... Thanks so much for all ideas and opinions! Mike Hi Mike/Kolbers: I made 3.5 flights to Alaska. First flight was without heat of any kind except what clothing I could put on my body to keep warm. After the first flight I discovered an electric vest made in England for motorcycle endurance riders called a Chili Vest. 12vdc power with a digital electronic thermostat that worked excellent. Powered right off the aircraft battery. Needed minimum clothing and was able to stay comfortable in the cockpit at freezing temps. Could have fabricated a hot water heater, but never liked the idea of plumbing hot water into the cockpit. Some Kolbers have fabricated hot air heaters from the air cooled Rotax. They'll pop up here and give you some info I am sure. john h mkIII Titus, Alabama ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 07:47:47 PM PST US Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage From: Dennis Rowe I'm liking the clothing suggestions a lot better than my cockpit radiator idea, like someone said, it's a crap pile of work to reengineer the cooling system to that degree. Dennis "Skid" Rowe Mk3, 690L-70, Leechburg, PA > On Dec 27, 2013, at 8:07 PM, "John Hauck" wrote: > > > > It's just now dawning on me, with John Hauck's experience flying up in AK, > he may also have some wisdom to share.... > > Thanks so much for all ideas and opinions! > > Mike > > > > Hi Mike/Kolbers: > > I made 3.5 flights to Alaska. First flight was without heat of any kind > except what clothing I could put on my body to keep warm. > > After the first flight I discovered an electric vest made in England for > motorcycle endurance riders called a Chili Vest. 12vdc power with a digital > electronic thermostat that worked excellent. Powered right off the aircraft > battery. Needed minimum clothing and was able to stay comfortable in the > cockpit at freezing temps. > > Could have fabricated a hot water heater, but never liked the idea of > plumbing hot water into the cockpit. > > Some Kolbers have fabricated hot air heaters from the air cooled Rotax. > They'll pop up here and give you some info I am sure. > > john h > mkIII > Titus, Alabama > > > > > > ________________________________ Message 7 _____________________________________ Time: 09:47:36 PM PST US Subject: Re: Kolb-List: Re: Kolb Firestar Winter storage From: Larry Cottrell As I mentioned earlier, when I had a two stroke on my Firestar, I built a cowling that captured the heat from the engine after it had made its way through the shroud. I used scat tubing to put it in the cockpit over my head. I still froze my feet, I still had to wear a coat, and I lost about 4MPH by having the back of the wind screen covered. The "bog" or "Muck" boots are about 3 MM of neophreme, and warm enough for a couple of hours exposure without losing the ability to "feel" the rudder petals. That is just with regular socks. The vest keeps my core temps up, and if I keep my hands out of the slip stream, caused by my poor engineering of my enclosure, I don't have any problem keeping warm long enough to get all the flying that I want. I do not consider 50 degrees to be cold enough to even hesitate when it comes to flying. Today at 40 degrees I didn't even wear my insulated bib overalls. As long as your core is warm, you will be able to enjoy your flight. Larry On Fri, Dec 27, 2013 at 8:47 PM, Dennis Rowe wrote: > > I'm liking the clothing suggestions a lot better than my cockpit radiator > idea, like someone said, it's a crap pile of work to reengineer the cooling > system to that degree. > > Dennis "Skid" Rowe > Mk3, 690L-70, Leechburg, PA > > > > On Dec 27, 2013, at 8:07 PM, "John Hauck" wrote: > > > > > > > > It's just now dawning on me, with John Hauck's experience flying up in > AK, > > he may also have some wisdom to share.... > > > > Thanks so much for all ideas and opinions! > > > > Mike > > > > > > > > Hi Mike/Kolbers: > > > > I made 3.5 flights to Alaska. First flight was without heat of any kind > > except what clothing I could put on my body to keep warm. > > > > After the first flight I discovered an electric vest made in England for > > motorcycle endurance riders called a Chili Vest. 12vdc power with a > digital > > electronic thermostat that worked excellent. Powered right off the > aircraft > > battery. Needed minimum clothing and was able to stay comfortable in the > > cockpit at freezing temps. > > > > Could have fabricated a hot water heater, but never liked the idea of > > plumbing hot water into the cockpit. > > > > Some Kolbers have fabricated hot air heaters from the air cooled Rotax. > > They'll pop up here and give you some info I am sure. > > > > john h > > mkIII > > Titus, Alabama > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- *If you forward this email, or any part of it, please remove my email address before sending.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message kolb-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Kolb-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/kolb-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/kolb-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.