Datum Skis

N942VT

N942VT

Well-known member
I'm starting an install of Datum 2500 skis on Tyson's four place. Ty went to Boston to pick up the skis from the international depot and delivered them to me Saturday. I've got them in the shop and everything is very nice quality, seems to be well thought out and packaged. The owner of Datum Jean-Marc has been a pleasure to deal with and very responsive to questions, he even emailed me yesterday (sunday) in answer to a concern. I'll keep you all informed as the install progresses.
 

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Hey Dave...the skis look great! I have two questions that come to mind. It places quite a bit of load on the end of the axle even though there is a sleeve that runs the length. The other is the amount of thread engagement necessary on the end of the axle. Most have just enough for the axle nut and a couple of threads exposed. Any thoughts?
 
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The axle insert is a pretty stout unit so that should provide quite a bit of strength, the nut will only hold the insert and tire from coming out - side load if you will. Also with these skis when in ski mode the tire sits on the ski providing support so I don't think all the load is at the end of the insert
 

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I am excited to hear about the installation also. The current exchange rate is $.75 cents on a dollar making the ski a bargain.
 
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Made some progress yesterday on the ski install. The first thing is to install new 600's which look real weird on the Bearhawk but that's the biggest tire these skis will take.
The skis slide onto the axle and mount combo pretty easily. Then I started with the rigging and figuring out the best points for the nose and tail support. AC 43-13 comes in handy here to provide the acceptable methods, it's always a challenge on a tube and fabric airplane to find strong points to mount to but I'll use a combination of the firewall and engine mount points to fab up a bracket for the front and the lower longeron for the rear points. More to come.
 

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Interesting; so you have to use 6.00x6 tires or smaller? Of course, I have 8.50x6 tires, so I guess that means a tire swap in autumn and spring.... sigh......

Please keep the updates coming. This is excellent. Pictures are always great, especially where you have structure mods to make (specifically the mount points for the rigging! )
 
This is so cool! I've always thought the Datums were the sweet setup. You must cap this thread off with a big pow shot.
 
rv8bldr said:
Interesting; so you have to use 6.00x6 tires or smaller? Of course, I have 8.50x6 tires, so I guess that means a tire swap in autumn and spring.... sigh......
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That is why I now own two sets of wheels. One for the 6.00's and one for the 8.50's. ...until I wear out the 8.50's and get a set of 26's. ;-)
 
kestrel said:
Hey Z! Come on out and we'll play! As soon as Dave has this thing flying, I'm going to be outside every evening doing a snow dance!
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It could be the perfect storm, guys, figuratively. Bigrenna has been inviting me all year to visit him at Plymouth for a trip up to Maine. If I can sell it just right to the wife to escape our baby girl for a few days, this could be on. Refresh my memory-- Dave is in Vermont, Ty is in Maine?
 
Zzz said:
It could be the perfect storm, guys, figuratively. Bigrenna has been inviting me all year to visit him at Plymouth for a trip up to Maine. If I can sell it just right to the wife to escape our baby girl for a few days, this could be on. Refresh my memory-- Dave is in Vermont, Ty is in Maine?
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I'm in southern NH and am happy to fly to MA (Plymouth), VT or Maine.
 
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Since Dave hasn't uploaded any photos yet, I will post one that he sent me. He says it is ready to be picked up. Lets hope the weather holds out this weekend. I miss my Bearhawk!
 

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Due to having a couple weekends that are booked and a shortage of snow around here it may be a few weeks, but I'll try to get some better pictures and some video posted. I didn't have much time to play or take cool pictures today.
 
As a follow up, the ski install went well. These are very nice quality. The toughest part to overcome turned out to be the brake set up, there's not much room so a single puck system clocked as high as possible is needed. I built an engine mount connecting the top two firewall mount locations for strength and used the gear leg and lower longeron cluster for the rear cables. Here's some pics of Ty loading up and his first take off. I can't say enough about Jean-Marc at Datum and how helpful and responsive he was to my questions. Good guy and great company. I'll let Ty provide any pireps but I know right after these pictures he and the family went off to Maine to play around.
Edit, can't get the video to upload, too bad it's a good one. 010.JPG 005.JPG
 
Dave just post it on Youtube and then paste the link.

That kinda sucks about the requirement for a single puck caliper for those of us who run double pucks with bushwheels, would certainly make the swapover more work intensive.

The power wire routing in the above pic looks a little sketchy...are you routing it through an air vent or something? Hard to see in the pic. Seems like the Datum motor/actuator would be better on the inside of the wheel or easy run up the gear leg and into the fuselage.

/Couch cushion thoughts

EDIT: Are you guys going to get after it after this big storm???
 
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I hear you on the wire routing but that's what we have to work with, the wire is in a rubber conduit so it's pretty well protected. Worst case a bungee would be applied to hold it up and back to the strut but it's more secure than it looks in the pic. I've seen some Datum's with the actuator in the front but they made this change so there it is. Remember these move 12 inches fore and aft so the wire has to go with it somewhat. Not only do you need single pucks but they have to be clocked as high as possible and then still I made a Delrin bumper to keep the ski from hitting the bleeder, it's pretty tight.
This storm is missing us up here completely, Ty may get some where he is 100 miles or so south of me but it's clear and calm for us.
 
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I was in Punta Cana for the storm, but we got zero inches in southern NH. I'm now headed to Yellowstone with the family for a week of cross-country skiing. Crowds should be thin! :-). It may be Feb 7 before I can fly again. The only good news is that the lakes are finally freezing up.
 

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Man! Did I have fun today!
 

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Looks like fun Ty. Wish I could have come but dove the Cayman wall today so all is good. We need to get those wires tidied up and turnbuckles on your cables. I'll be skiing with you next winter, in the works.
 
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