Another NEW Savannah XL on its way

Hi Guys

 

Well are many years of wishing and looking and annoying Savannah owners I have finally ordered my new kit this week. It should arrive here in Brisbane ready for pickup first or second week in May. I hopefully will start on it within a couple of weeks once it gets here. I wont be building it here at my place in Burpengary as I haven't got enough room at the moment even though I do live in shed heaven here. It will start off at my mother in laws place about 10 minutes away until everything is sorted out here. She has a fairly big shed that is reasonably clear it will just need some tidying up. I would like to thank Bill Grieves for the couple of flights I had in his Savannah and also in John Gilpin's Savannah for their expertise and knowledge and also for just being really approachable and putting up with me and all the questions I had. It will not be a fast build but I may do a build blog on one of my websites with pics etc as I haven't really found any in depth blogs on building a Savannah, will see how that pans out. I have looked over pretty much every website about savannahs and of course any tips will be gratefully appreciated.

 

Regards

 

Mark Kyle

 

.

 

 

Have a ball Mark!

 

 

Excellent work Mark, keep us posted of your progress! Things have been a little quiet on the building front lately...

 

Ross, Ross, where are you Ross.... :big_grin:

 

 

If you do a search for the U.S Savannah distributor they have a great blow by blow photo journal. It really is amazing how quick they go together. I hear the price is back down with the dollar performing, good choice and timing!

 

 

Hi Mark,

 

Good joyce. I've build my Savvy in Bill's shed. If i can help let us know. I do suggest to etchprime Everything regardless of what you are told. It IS worth it.!! 6061 will corrode given the right conditions. I also suggest to deburr everything as it does make it a better finish!!.

 

It will not fly any better but the satisfaction is worth it!!

 

happy building,

 

Walter

 

 

Hi Walter and the other guys who have responded

 

I am all ears when it comes to tips and tricks...I am counting the days for when I get the call to go and pick up the box. I will first of course sort out all the parts as many builders have suggested and I will certainly be removing all the sharp edges. I have been over to Laurie Stricklands place a couple of times now and had a look and taken quite a few pics of his XL build. The etch prime does sound like a good idea what brand did you use. Although mine will be hangared all the time when its finished but of course it does get exposed to the elements and corrosion is the enemy. I have been going through a lot of the posts and have been saving all of the relative info about tips in building. And I still have around 4 weeks until it arrives so I should have a pretty good folder to go with the build manual.

 

Walter is your Savannah the one that is painted similar to Bills

 

Regards

 

Mark

 

 

Good to hear of your decision Mark. You'll never regret it.

 

Looking forward to seeing you fly in to Kilcoy, any day now....

 

JG

 

 

I'm not convinced that corrosion really is an enemy with 6061 alloy. I just cleaned up my aluminium scrap pile (all 200kg of it). Much of that had spent up to 10 years buried in moist leave litter under rainforest trees. Not one bit of corrosion to be found..... I've helped repair three 701's that had been built years ago, and never found any corrosion. 6061 is not at all like 2024, the so-called 'aircraft aluminium'. A piece of 2024 round stock stored inside my workshop is covered with white corrosion, but none of the 6061 has any at all....

 

On the couple of Savannahs we built we just etch primed the contact surfaces that will be riveted together - that is essential. By all means go ahead and do the interior surfaces if it makes you feel better, but I reckon it makes no difference at all. I'm not even sure that etch primer on its own prevents corrosion on aluminium, it certainly doesn't on steel! I think etch-prime is somewhat permeable and it really needs a sealing topcoat to really isolate the metal.

 

Of course etch-priming the outer surfaces is essential, but that's only to make the paint adhere properly. Just use locally available Wattyl SuperEtch.

 

JG

 

 

Can't say that painting ICP black primer on mating pieces is great fun, BUT the bond it achieves is very believable if you ever unrivet a joint, it does a lot to control working in the joint. I am not sure that I believe two primed surfaces would control working to the same extent, putting much more reliance on the rivets to control movement in the joint, immediately beginning to wear the rivets.

 

 

Hi Mark

 

Great to see that you finally ordered a Savannah. Give me a call if I can be of any help. As you know I have always advocated etch priming in the past, however, as Reg Brost told me, the 6061 does not need it and if it is not done correctly it could even be worse than not doing anything. He supplies a great little paint roller that you fill with the supplied "black stuff". This will apply a 1" wide strip over mating areas and should be all that is needed.

 

Look forward to you being in the ever growing Savannah group of owners.

 

Cheers

 

Bill

 

 

Hi Bill

 

Finally being the operative word :)...well the dollar has made it possible also a bit more cash has come my way due to some asset sales so finally it will be here in a few weeks. I do have to thank you for the couple of flights I have had with you and showing me the flying attributes of the Savannah...from that first flight I was hooked. I have had a flight of the technam and I have to say after flying the savannah I was let down a lot by the Technan. I thought it would have been much better. It needed heaps of rudder all the time with any power applied also it would never stay trimmed for level flight very long. The savvy felt much more nimble and certainly has a much more powerful rudder. For what I want to do with it the savvy is the best aircraft. We bought our retirement property up at Booyal about 21km west of Childers about 20km due north of Mt Goonaneman. Its 125 acres, there used to be an old airstrip on the property on the western side but thats all overgrown now and too much work so the eastern side is much better. It will give me 2 strips roughly 80 deg apart the shortest one is about 350 mtrs and the longest one is almost 500 metres. So eventually Denice and I will fly up there most times rather than drive the 3 hrs it should only take about 1hr 20 to fly there from Caboolture or Kilcoy. The short strip of 350 mtrs is east west and in the direction of where my dad is walking in the pic..the long strip will run from left to right but over towards the eastern side of the property from the far tree line over to the full right hand side of the picture so heaps of room. I have a D8 dozer coming in about 2 weeks to knock over some trees for the house site and sewerage system also to push a wall up for a nice big gully dam. While he is there I will be getting him to clean up the areas for both airstrips

 

So the next few years will be great I cant wait till I can retire and stop working I can fill my days in with plenty to do and hopefully do plenty of flying trips as well.

 

Regards

 

Mark

 

 

 

Hi Mark,

 

Congratulations on a great choice.

 

I completed my XL in February and have over 50 hours on it including trips to NatFly and Broken Hill. It is a pleasure to fly.

 

You will get many conflicting pieces of advice, weigh them up and make the decision that best suits your situation.

 

Have fun and don't hesitate to ask - the only silly question is the one you don't ask!!

 

Blue skies,

 

Ron.

 

 

Thanks Ron

 

I watched your thread with interest as you were building yours. Yes there are lots of ideas out there and I will wade through them all and select the ones I think will be the best for my build. Its not long now the aircraft should hit the wharf in under a week and then not too much longer before the drive down to the warehouse to pick it up. Was over at the outlaws place today getting the shed sorted out and shifting a few things into another shed to give me plenty of room. One question is most seem to use the box it comes in to do the building on.....I am thinking of making a specific table to build it on this way I can make sure its exactly level through the whole surface. What do you think is the box good enough to use...it would save a lot of work I suppose. My concern was boxes of this size usually have a few ups and downs in them..suggestions would be appreciated

 

Mark

 

 

Hi Mark,

 

Re the box, I used it supported on a trolley with HD castor wheels, so I could move it around. Regarding the flat surface, the Savannah kit is made so well you could assemble it on the back lawn and it will be square. For instance, you put the wing ribs, spars etc together and they are all over the place. Put on the first part of the skin and it acts as a template, as the holes are all super-accurately pre-drilled. Wallah! it is all straight!

 

The "almost-arrived & just-has-to-clear-customs" period is the hardest part of the waiting period.

 

All the best,

 

Ron.

 

 

Hi Ron

 

Well I have got my Savannah in the garage now. Spent last weekend cleaning out the garage and getting ready to do a few things. I have got some 18mm form board and I also have some high quality castoring wheels which I will attach to the form board. The sets I put on either end of the box have the brake levers on them and the other 4 wheels will go in the two other middle sections so the box will have 8 wheels spread across it and because of the plates they are mounted on I should be able to get the top of the box level. I have got a stack of new clecos and decent pliers now. The biggest issue is I want to start to get into it but this next 2 weekends and also during the weeks are flat out here so will just have to grin and bear it. I do have one major mod I have decided to do and that is I will save about 5 kg at least in weight I hope as I will not be using any of the instruments supplied. One of the local guys up here has a Brauniger Alpha MFD in his Borabee which has everything in it all in the one panel he is going to put it in his Savannah and it is super accurate in all of its measurements here is the link for it Bräuniger Flugelectronic (Products :: AlphaMFD :: Operation) and as a backup asi and other instruments the Garmin GPSmap 196 https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=208#imageTab . So that will take care the only other thing I need of course is the radio. I have the instrument panel supplied I will get a new one lasercut exactly the same outside and just replace the whole panel with the new one. The Euro is really great at the moment for us now so will order the Alpha with the 912s sensor package in the next week or so which will save me heaps. So I will have a panel and complete instrument set up for sale if someone wants them. I have had a bulldozer up at my property for a week doing a heap of work putting in a new dam and roads around and through the property but also has cut 2 strips for me both are around 350 mtrs long with great approaches on the main strip and not too bad on the cross strip. Now all I need to to win the lotto so I can retire and spend all of my time building the Savannah :)

 

Mark

 

 

Congratulations Mark.

 

I've been a long time lurker around the Savannah forum and am coming to the conclusion that if I can ever get my pennies together, after school fees, wife's hairdresser, etc etc etc, this would be one great aircraft to put together. (Originally thought CH650xl was the way to go, but the configuration and utility of the Savvy seems unbeatable).

 

I look forward to following your build with great interest. Please post lots of pics along the way.

 

Regards,

 

Mike.

 

 

Hi Mark

 

Well after much research when I was looking around the Savannah ticked all the boxes for me. I have about 30hrs in a C172 back in the mid nineties and was canned on my PPL because I had the onset of type 2 diabeties that was picked up during my medical for the PPL which by the way is well under control and has never been any issue and previous to that around 80 hrs in full size gliders in the mid eighties. The build I will enjoy I am sure I wont have too many issues with it other than reading the manual from what I have been told. But there is a thread on the forums about the age of most RAA pilots and I have to say its only later in life that most of us get the means to be able to make most of this happen...well certainly in my generation. I have mentioned previously about buying our retirement property I am not that old yet but a couple of years ago I realised I would be 55 and was eligable to collect my super and didn't really have any firm plans on what I wanted to do and where I wanted to do it. After about a year of looking we found a block that really suited everything we wanted to do and bought it in early January. Last week I had a bulldozer there doing a fair amount of work and one of the jobs for him was to level the ground for a airstrip or two. Attached is a couple of pics to show them although no finished when I had to leave and come back they are looking pretty good. The main strip direction is probably 350/170deg and the cross strip is probably 310/130deg. The approaches to the main strip are fantasic the cross strip is not that good but very acceptable both strips are around 400 mtrs long. The cross strip was only just started in the picture you will see what I mean. The Savannah is just the ticket at this place. I have been making up the wheel bases for the box today so it can be leveled and moved around. Will take some photos when I get them under the box hopefully tomorrow.

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

G'day Mark,

 

It all sounds fantastic :thumb_up: - if only tattslotto would come in for me .

 

Please keep a blog or an up to date thread on your build. as I'm really interested to see how it goes.:big_grin:

 

Cheers

 

H

 

 

Hi Mark.

 

Congrats on the new kit.

 

Hope to see you at my strip in Toogoolawah for a coffee.

 

Regards John N.

 

There are quite a few Savannah drivers out here if you have any probs.

 

 

Hey Mark - good to hear it's arrived - now the build starts - have fun (I know I always do) and let me know how you are going. I don't have a plane at the moment - factory built should arrive late July or so - in the mean time I am doing my PPL.

 

Cheers

 

Bill

 

 

Hi John and Bill

 

Well I think it will take me about a year to get mine done especially with the way work is going at the moment but I want to get it done as quickly as I can and certainly I will fly in for coffee John. I called in last time I was out your way but you were away flying...funny about that :)

 

Yes Bill I heard your savvy didn't last long when it was advertised and you had a factory built on order. I saw Blairs from Gympie the first factory built one and gave Reg and Blair a small hand to do some assembly over 2 days. It was beautifully made really well done. We need a few of the factory builts around to get some training done. I know my bum will be in one for some serious get to know you time in the left hand seat of the Savannah before I fly mine and I am sure once they are available for training there will be lots more Savannah kits and factory built versions sold

 

Regards

 

Mark

 

 

Hi John and BillWell I think it will take me about a year to get mine done Mark

Greetings, don't worry too much about how long it will take.... I was aiming for about a year, but what with having to improve the build shed, and convert a large shed into a hangar, it is going to have taken me close to 3 years, (this also includes changing jobs and other more important jobs to be done). A long slow process but I reckon it will be worth it in the end.

 

Regards, Redair.

 

 

Congrats on the new savvy. I finished my build last december, and now its flying. Have you had a look at the South African Savannah site, it has some great build pictures.:thumb_up:

 

 

If you get a factory build are you still a 'real' Savvy owner?;)

 

 

Hi Mark,

 

Yes, you made a great choice with the XL.

 

I completed mine in February and couldn't be happier.

 

Any probs, just post your query, the guys on this forum are great and will always help out, as they did for me.

 

Blue skies,

 

Ron

 

Savannah 19-7109.