IanJ
Well-Known Member
Greetings all! I have been a member here for many years, but inactive for a long time. I can foresee activity in the future though, and figured it was time to get a bit more involved again.
Briefly, I'm about a 180 hour pilot in Seattle, with lots of Cherokee and 152/172 time, and 12 hours and growing of Aeronca Champ 7AC time at Harvey Field (S43). I kicked around the idea of building a two-place biplane for a long time, first the Acrosport II, then the Flitzer Z-2 Schwalbe. However, the Acrosport II is too big/heavy/modern-looking for me, and ultimately the Flitzer is gorgeous and I'd love to build one, but it simply won't take me and a real passenger up -- I'm 220 lbs and 6'1", and I have a bunch of 200+ lb passengers on the list of people who'll want to go up with me. The Schwalbe will carry me, full fuel, and about 65 lbs more. Since full fuel is only 13 gallons, there's not enough leeway to take my heavier friends into the sky with me.
So, I started looking around for alternatives, and came across the Bakeng Deuce. It's still on the large/heavy/overpowered side for me (for whatever reason, I really like small vehicles), but I like the vintage look of the parasol wing, it has a claimed 600 lb payload with 180 lbs of full fuel, and it would be a good candidate for a Verner 7Si or a Rotec R3600, which would be fantastic. The look of the plane, modern cowling aside, is quite cool, and it suits my "cruising around, not doing aerobatics or trying to get places" mission profile quite well. Most of my current flying is with friends to local destinations (Seattle is blessed with some gorgeous flying, particularly on nice days, which do happen from time to time). I can see, once I've built my own plane, taking a relatively large amount of time off and doing a solo trip around the country, too, and I'm just masochistic enough to think that doing it in an open cockpit plane sounds pretty cool. Plus, leather aviator's hood and goggles.
I'm curious if any members here have any experience with Deuces, though. How is the cockpit for the tall and wide pilots of today? I'm tall and well built without being fat, and my concerns are shoulder room and legroom. Obviously I can do things like shift rudder pedals or move seatbacks a little bit, but changing the width of the cockpit presents a serious design challenge that I am most likely not up for. Thoughts? Anyone know the cockpit dimensions?
On the point of engines, it looks like a lot of people have put O-290s in their Deuces, though a number express a regret that they didn't go for an O-320, due to popularity and ease/cost of finding parts. If I were to go the certified route, I'd probably be looking at a 320 for that reason (most likely of the buy-core-rebuild-myself variety). However, online references put the range of acceptable engines in the 85-160 HP range, which is huge. Anyone have experience with different engine specs in a Deuce? Climb performance? Gross weight? Cruise speed?
I'd love to hear anyone's Deuce stories. I've found a few online, but apparently the Deuce-specific forum died in a data-fire some time ago, and a lot of history and information was lost. Thanks for any help you can provide!
Briefly, I'm about a 180 hour pilot in Seattle, with lots of Cherokee and 152/172 time, and 12 hours and growing of Aeronca Champ 7AC time at Harvey Field (S43). I kicked around the idea of building a two-place biplane for a long time, first the Acrosport II, then the Flitzer Z-2 Schwalbe. However, the Acrosport II is too big/heavy/modern-looking for me, and ultimately the Flitzer is gorgeous and I'd love to build one, but it simply won't take me and a real passenger up -- I'm 220 lbs and 6'1", and I have a bunch of 200+ lb passengers on the list of people who'll want to go up with me. The Schwalbe will carry me, full fuel, and about 65 lbs more. Since full fuel is only 13 gallons, there's not enough leeway to take my heavier friends into the sky with me.
So, I started looking around for alternatives, and came across the Bakeng Deuce. It's still on the large/heavy/overpowered side for me (for whatever reason, I really like small vehicles), but I like the vintage look of the parasol wing, it has a claimed 600 lb payload with 180 lbs of full fuel, and it would be a good candidate for a Verner 7Si or a Rotec R3600, which would be fantastic. The look of the plane, modern cowling aside, is quite cool, and it suits my "cruising around, not doing aerobatics or trying to get places" mission profile quite well. Most of my current flying is with friends to local destinations (Seattle is blessed with some gorgeous flying, particularly on nice days, which do happen from time to time). I can see, once I've built my own plane, taking a relatively large amount of time off and doing a solo trip around the country, too, and I'm just masochistic enough to think that doing it in an open cockpit plane sounds pretty cool. Plus, leather aviator's hood and goggles.
I'm curious if any members here have any experience with Deuces, though. How is the cockpit for the tall and wide pilots of today? I'm tall and well built without being fat, and my concerns are shoulder room and legroom. Obviously I can do things like shift rudder pedals or move seatbacks a little bit, but changing the width of the cockpit presents a serious design challenge that I am most likely not up for. Thoughts? Anyone know the cockpit dimensions?
On the point of engines, it looks like a lot of people have put O-290s in their Deuces, though a number express a regret that they didn't go for an O-320, due to popularity and ease/cost of finding parts. If I were to go the certified route, I'd probably be looking at a 320 for that reason (most likely of the buy-core-rebuild-myself variety). However, online references put the range of acceptable engines in the 85-160 HP range, which is huge. Anyone have experience with different engine specs in a Deuce? Climb performance? Gross weight? Cruise speed?
I'd love to hear anyone's Deuce stories. I've found a few online, but apparently the Deuce-specific forum died in a data-fire some time ago, and a lot of history and information was lost. Thanks for any help you can provide!
