About All This

I do not know why I started this site. I recall the first pages went up when I was restoring 686, my second Schweizer 1-26 and my first sailplane restoration. 525 came later after Dave Piotrowski bought it and continued to upgrade that glider with all sorts of impressive enhancements and clever additions.

Then the Nimbus 3 came along and I documented the refinishing of that glider on these pages, followed by a complete overhaul of a wrecked 1-26, serial number 038.

Boats have always been a big part of our life and after selling the gliders, we bought a Ranger 20, a Wayfarer and finally the Monk. Now I’m building a PaperJet 14 and rebuilding the Monk, albeit very slowly on both counts.

My wife Renee and I have seven cats – we started out with one that barged its way in when we lived in Brussels and we’ve ended up with one blind cat, two one-eyed monsters, one semi-feral hand-biter and three relatively normal felines that entertain us regularly.

In my spare time I work for the FAA as the Principal Maintenance Inspector for the Alaska Airlines Certificate Management Office in Seatac, WA.

Our daydreams include buying a catboat of indeterminate length, say 15 to 18 feet in length and just cruising around on the Puget Sound.

{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

Dave Piotrowski October 6, 2009 at 5:31 pm

You forgot to mention your hobby of “moving” and your impressive betting record against Mr. Piotrowski……..

Jim Phoenix October 6, 2009 at 8:19 pm

I expect to own the last trophy in the betting series.

Mark Whittier October 29, 2009 at 9:50 am

Another thing not mentioned is an affinity to swedishly manufactured vehicles of which we share a love of….

Brent Carter October 2, 2011 at 11:58 am

Hello,

I’m contemplating building a Paper Jet 14 or a Falco Mk 3 / Quetzal. I wanted to see if you would be willing to share some thoughts on the sailing characteristics of the PJ.
I’m looking forward to the building process but don’t want to build a boat only to be disappointed with the way it sails when I’m done.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Take care,

Brent Carter
407-506-4498

Jim Phoenix October 2, 2011 at 1:01 pm

Brent, I’ve not had a chance to sail the paper jet in decent wind, but there are some good reviews on the forum here:

http://pj14forum.i-sails.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=79

I’m using a set of Laser 2 practice sails, pretty cheap but work very well. It moves very quickly in light air, hopefully we’ll get some decent wind this fall.

Rgds,

Jim

Ridge October 27, 2011 at 8:18 am

Couldn’t find the link to your 1-26 trailer discussion (?), but hope you’ll provide a lead for me to then read. I’ve got to build my own trailer ASAP, as I now have a 1960 1-26 in possession to begin restoring. I’ll find some wings later. Gotta have a pure fun flyer to balance vs my Nimbus 2C!

Ridge

Jim Phoenix October 29, 2011 at 6:35 pm

Ridge, here’s the trailer page:

http://www.archive.jimphoenix.com/archive09/jimphoenix2/pages/trailers/subtrailers.html

Betsy Wareham December 5, 2011 at 2:58 pm

Caught your article about repowering CHrysler Crown to Yanmar. Did you keep the old engine? Looking for parts.

Jim Phoenix December 5, 2011 at 3:52 pm

No, it’s gone, but there are parts around, might take some searching.

Karl Kunz January 4, 2012 at 12:23 pm

Jim, loved your site on 686. I am getting ready to recover the control surfaces on our club 1-26 and found that the ailerons were rib stitched and the horizontal stab, elevator and rudder were riveted. Is this how 1-26s are normally done or how Schweizer did it??

Karl

Jim Phoenix January 4, 2012 at 4:46 pm

Karl,

The ailerons are pop-riveted. All fabric installed on all 1-26 models was installed with pop-rivets, even the wing fabric on the early models, no rib stitching was ever used. Here’s link to an old page on 525′s ailerons – if you haven’t discovered it already: http://www.archive.jimphoenix.com/archive09/jimphoenix2/pages/525/5ailerons/sub5ailerons.html

Where do you fly? What club?

Good luck!

Jim

Karl Kunz January 4, 2012 at 5:44 pm

Thanks Jim. I fly out of Central Coast Soaring Club in Avenal CA. I have a ASW20 I usually fly but still enjoy the 1-26. When I stripped the ailerons there were no rivet holes on the ribs which is why I asked. They must have been repaired at one time and not re-drilled. The rivets will be a lot easier and faster then stitching.

Jim Phoenix January 4, 2012 at 9:28 pm

Karl,

I stand corrected, looking at 525′s ailerons again, I see they have no rivets at all. It was the same with 686 – no rib stitching or pop rivets in the ailerons, the chord is so short, it’s just not needed. Even the E model with a Vne of 114 (if I recall correctly) did not need rivets or stitching on the ailerons. Sorry about the misinformation earlier, I guess my memory is going at my advanced age, or maybe it’s the FAA effect ;-)

ASW-20 is a nice glider, is yours a C model?

Jim

Karl Kunz January 5, 2012 at 10:59 am

Thanks for checking on the ailerons. My 20 is a BL which has the 16.6 meter tips which I never use, I always fly it at 15 meters. I notice Garret Willet is the owner of your Nimbus now, I worked for his dad Brett for awhile when Skysailing was located in the San Francisco Bay area. Only knew him as a new born baby. Guess I’m advancing in age as well.

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