Dubro skis on the Apprentice

[Dougf]

In case any of you guys with an Apprentice are planning on putting skis on for the winter, here's what I have found so far with the Du-Bro Snowbird Snow Skis(main gear p/n 825, n/g p/n 826):

Two main issues...the wire gage of the gear is smaller than the ski mount and hardware hole diameters, so the fit is loose, and needs either a thin sleeve or bushing to eliminate the play. I haven't found one yet, suppose I could fly with it loose, but it's not ideal.

Second and more critical, the nose ski length extends in front of the prop arc, and if the slipstream drag pushes the ski up too much, it will strike the prop. Not good. I am considering fixing this with a nylon line from the trailing edge of the ski to some hard point.

If anyone with winter flying ski experience has a fix, please advise!

[Sempai-mj]

You could try to use a 3 Blade prop.

It will be one inch shorter than your 2 blade prop. and could avoid the prop. from striking the nose ski.

http://spiritsofstl.com/Documents/Intersting%20Things/Convert%20a%202-bladed%20prop%20to%203-blades-%20Paul%20Geders.pdf

[Ricardo]

Another suggestion is to make it a taildragger, by moving the main gear forward and removing the nose gear.
You can find several threads on this conversion.

[Dougf]

Thanks, I will check out a three blade prop for starters.

Ricardo, I have a Timber, and may also put ski's on that, will be easier than doing a conversion on the Apprentice.

[Richard Piché]

Photos de modification pour ski avant
Works on my Apprentice,no need to change propeller