marksires

I have a really old Icom A22.  Alkaline batteries only last about a day, less if you transmit much, and mine takes 10 AA batteries.  I used Lithium AA for a couple of times, they last a lot longer, but too much $$$.  I bought 30 nimh AA rechargeable batteries, and 2 8 battery charges from Amazon.  I also have an extra battery 'pack', so I can take two fully charged sets with me for an easy change if needed.  The nimh batteries last as long as the alkalines did, and they've been going strong for a couple of years now.  I think the cost of all of it was about 2 sets of Lithium batteries.
Mark

There are some resins that will work with ethanol, so you could make your own tanks, but most folks don't want to.  When I rebuild mine I'll make one if the existing tanks isn't in good shape.
Mark
 

Kevlar is a different animal than CF - tougher, takes a beating (bullets), which makes it better for boats, other than it degrades with exposure to water, so keep that gel coat maintained!

Some parts might be improved with Carbon Fiber, but not lightened.  Most of Fiberglass and CF weight is in the resin, and it is the same for both.  Carbon also isn't as 'neutral' as glass, so the wet bits would need to be fiberglass anyway.  Seems most boats are still fiberglass.  There is a probably a reason....

TJay,
Not to worry, they'd already be soaking wet from sweat from the takeoff and climb, no one would notice 

Very sorry to hear this Ed.  Hang in there, doctors aren't nearly as smart as they think they are.  If I was a Vegas bookie, I'd give you way better odds than I would cancer!
Mark
 

Ed,
I believe Spec means Speculative.  He is building the house with no buyer yet, hoping someone will like it after it is built.  For a builder, there is the possibility of making a lot more money than building a house under contract.  There is also the possibilty of losing money.
Mark
 

I have one of the 500lb, and one of the 1000lb, they are the handiest things I ever bought.  If you need higher lift, Northern Tool has some that lift more than 2x these.  I haven't found a need for them yet, but I bought a forklift, so my lifting needs are pretty much taken care of.
Mark
 

So, what's the kickback like on an elephant gun? 

Heck no, the tadpoles will get rid of the mosquito larva, and the frogs will take care of the ones they miss!  I just hope a nasty water moccasin doesn't take up residence.  Then I'd have to buy that Judge pistol I've been eyeing for years!

I guess I'm training for a job in the Trump administration - draining the swamp!  3" pump has been running about 8 hours a day for the last 4 days, draining the pond/swamp that formed behind the new hangar.  The frogs were very busy with all the new water - there must be a million tadpoles in it, and it has only been there a week now.  I don't think I'm exaggerating much there either.  It covered about 1/2 acre, about 3feet deep, and it is thick with them every place I looked.  I have it down to about a foot, and it has shrank in size to about 1/3 acre. 

Thanks for your service and the pics.  Looking at them, I would sure rather do that trip in the KC-10 than an F-18!  If I was in the KC-10, I'd start messing with the F-18 pilots about halfway through a leg.  Start talking about all the iced tea I drank, make sounds like running water, then tell them oops, gotta run to the bathroom...... 

Power and Internet at 4pm.  Hooray!  I'm not Amish anymore! 

Latest update says 33,000 still without power for our power company.  I'm pretty sure that means 32,999 are in front of me.....

What's the damage on the Float?  Might be interesting to have the damaged set to try to turn into Amphibious ones using the plans that were posted after Oshkosh.
Mark
 

It's so bad McDonalds took down their menu board and had a piece of paper printed on the drive through board with the items they did have this morning.  It wasn't a long list.
Mark
 

Yes, the landfall was about worst case for us in Lake City.  Still no power or internet other than cell data service.  Monday both power companies in our area were reporting 90%+ of theircustomers were without power.  Not a lot of wind damage, but lots of water oaks came down.  They have really small and weak root systems, when the ground gets saturated it doesn't take a lot to blow over what looks like a big strong oak.  Anyway, we lost one, it may have landed on the roofing or siding for the new hangar, but it's all under water so I can't tell.  The Santa Fe River beat the all time flood record by 1 foot so far, and still rising.  I-75 may close, it's almost to the top of the bridge at MM 408 now.  Which would really suck for those folks trying to get back home south.  All other nearby routes around or over the Santa Fe are closed already, so if I-75 closes it's a 100 mile or so detour.
We didn't get much except the tree down.  Some water in the garage/shop/hangar, but only a couple of inches, and nothing of value was on the floor.
My weather station says 10 inches, most of which came in about 6 hours.  It rainded all day Sunday, but when I went to bed at 11pm, we only had a couple of inches.  Morning we had 10 inches
If we can get power and internet/cable back, life will be pretty much back to normal.  We have a whole house generator that runs on Propane.    We have a 500 gallon tank, so we're good for a few more days.  Down 20% over 3 days, still have a little less than 50% left.  

I might be interested.  I have floats, but no rigging.  I have the water rudders, one for each float.  Shipping from Alaska to Florida will be outrageous though.

Hang on tight, but try to wear the b*tch out a bit before you send her north, would you?  Pretty much the worst case path for both of us.  One advantage of a diesel truck, most of the stations have been out around here on and off, but they've always had diesel available.  Spent today picking up the stuff that would have been fine in a tropical storm, but Cat 1, or Cat 2 might be a problem.   Most of the neighbors are snowbirds, so walked around their properties too and secured some loose stuff they had in their yards also.

No matter which of the projected paths it takes, we shouldn't get more than tropical storm winds (40-75mph), with some gusts that may go over 100mph.  Either it will be too far away (east coast / west coast track), or have traveled over too much land (center track).  My biggest concern is flooding, but now they are only saying 3-5" of rain, which isn't unusual for us here.  We got 8" in 5 hours back in January.  Power and internet will likely be down for some time though, so don't panic if you don't here from us quickly.  We have a whole house generator, and the 500 gallon propane tank is 70% full (they only fill it to 80%, and that was in January), so we'll have power.  We are on a well, so as long as the generator runs, we'll have water also.  Lake City is right at the intersection of I-75 and I-10, only about 65 miles south of Georgia.  We were listed as the 6th safest place in Florida for weather related issues, and if wasn't for the flood rating, we'd have been #1.  It is called Lake City for a reason 
Lake City is where they typically stage all the power restoration/tree removal crews.  The fairgrounds started filling up with trucks yesterday, which made me feel better. As long as they think this is the best place to put them, it won't be too bad here.
I-75 North is not a fun place to be, solid traffic to I-10, and moving very slow.  I-75 South looks like a drag strip or a really long runway :-).   Any gas station with gas has a line.  Fortunately my truck is diesel, and most of the stations that are out of gas still have diesel.
Weather is absolutely gorgeous at the moment, which is typical before a major storm.  Spent yesterday getting most of the loose items in the yard put away or secured.  Still a few things to put away, that will get done tomorrow as I make a last sweep around the property.  Fortunately the framing for the new hangar is all complete and tightened up, and I haven't started on the siding yet.  The skeleton should ride out the projected winds without a problem.  And if any trees go down, I have a big honkin 4wd forklift to get them out of the way.
 
Mark
 

Where we live the biggest threat is flooding from the rain, and tornadoes spawned from the storm.  So far the rain forecasts for our area aren't awful, as long as the storm keeps moving and doesn't stall like Harvey did.  The more it shifts east, the happier I am!
Mark
 

Funny, I'm nominally a republican, but I'm not the one hyping climate religion.

No problem for me, the more the merrier!
Mark
 

That comment is exactly why anthrogenic climate change has zero credibility.  Every 'bad' weather event is immediately pointed to as evidence of climate change.  Any weather event that contradicts climate change is dismissed with 'weather is not the same as climate'.  You can't have it both ways, not and have anyone with a brain believe you.
Fact is hurricane activity occurs in cycles, and we are on the upswing of that cycle, so increased hurricane activity is evidence of a lack of climate change.  Every year in the geological microsecond we've been keeping records some new 'record' or another has been set.  We haven't even begun to gather sufficient data to accurately model climate, nor are we gathering any data on many acknowledged drivers of climate.
So far every prediction of massive global warming has been wrong.  When I was in school we learned the story of chicken little.  Apparently that isn't taught anymore.
I do not deny the climate changes, it always has, and it always will.  I just don't believe (at least from tainted data presented so far) that we puny humans have had any significant impact on that change.  If data that hasn't been altered to fit the theory is ever presented, perhaps I'll change my mind.  When I was taught the scientific method, you made a theory, tested that theory, observed the results, and then modified the theory on the basis of the observation data.  You didn't change the observation data to fit the theory.  In my world, doing that is called religion, not science.
 
 

I buy cars based on the dealership service dept more than the car or the 'deal'. Once I find a good one, that is where I stay, but ready to move on if they get sold or change their focus.  We had an awesome BMW dealer in Illinois, so we bought BMW's for years.  Moved to Florida, and the BMW dealers here are awful - may as well by a used KIA from a 'buy here pay here' lot.  Found a good Chrysler dealer locally, so now we buy Chrysler vehicles.
When I'm checking out a new dealer, I go look at the service dept, and watch it for a while.  Service is way more important to me than the 'deal'.  You can get the same 'deal' at virtually any dealership, and I do that once every 5 years or so.  Service I use 2 or 3 times a year.
Mark