Seawind 3000 Safety issues

[Samibrahim]

not much experience, still working on my private pilot license, completed about 45 hours. I guess I am going to pass the deal and stay with my Zodiac 650.

Thanks all for all the feedbacks.

 

[edwisch]

DO NOT BUY THE KIT. and your question indicates that you are in way over your head.

 

[BJC]

DO NOT BUY THE KIT.

With all internals and the engine removed, a Seawind, mounted on a big bearing, would make a nice wind vane.


BJC

 

[Samibrahim]

Edwisch,

I learned from the thread that the problems are mostly related to rudder and elevators. I thought that this can be solved by increasing the area of both of those as drawn in the attachment. I never seen that done before, but I think it is doable.

 

[BJC]

Edwisch,

I learned from the thread that the problems are mostly related to rudder and elevators.

The most significant problem is the configuration.


BJC

 

[Vigilant1]

Aside from all the (very significant) observations about the safety and adequacy of the Seawind 3000 design itself, there's also the huge issue of the commercial status of Seawind LLC. Namely, they appear to be kaput.

https://m.facebook.com/SeawindLLC/

It would be one thing to buy, say, plans for a simple, well validated design and commit to scratch building it even if the designer is no longer around to offer support. It is a whole 'nother thing to buy a kit of an orphaned large complex composite design that has known 'issues' and a very small population of flying examples.

I wouldn't waste my time by thinking about it for one more second, and I wouldn't feel an obligation to be especially welcoming to whoever was trying to sell this thing to me. Just my opinion.

 

[Tiger Tim]

The most significant problem is the configuration.

Looks to me like the cabin, wing, horizontal tail, and engine are all comparable to where they are on a Lake. The biggest difference is the enormous fin and rudder and what looks to be an awfully short hull aft of the step. I’m not saying the Seawind is a good airplane but I kind of suspect this is one of those cases where the devil is in the details.

Maybe a bucket of cash thrown at a guy like Roncz could sort it all out but I’m not the one to throw that bucket.

 

[Kyle Boatright]

Looks to me like the cabin, wing, horizontal tail, and engine are all comparable to where they are on a Lake. The biggest difference is the enormous fin and rudder and what looks to be an awfully short hull aft of the step. I’m not saying the Seawind is a good airplane but I kind of suspect this is one of those cases where the devil is in the details.

Maybe a bucket of cash thrown at a guy like Roncz could sort it all out but I’m not the one to throw that bucket.

I think you're looking at a short fuselage with all of the weight very near the CG. That leads to a a low moment of inertia in roll and pitch, which leads to stability issues in flight and on the water, exemplified by porpoising issues.

 

[TFF]

Anything is fixable. Is it t worth it? A free kit would still put you at $100k to finish, at least. A IO540 and a constant speed prop is going to sink $50-70k easy for used. No support means any issues are yours to figure out. Not insurable which means training in it will be very hard to find just for a qualified pilot. Composite kits consume a lot more time to put together than expected. The big parts are there, but non of the real time consuming stuff is done. Whacking off the tail is a big move to make. It will definitely junk the kit if you never finish it. No resale if you did it and it wasn’t flying.

 

[Victor Bravo]

Remove the engine from the vertical fin, put a new leading edge on the fin to make it smooth.

Install two small jet engines on pylons above the trailing edges of the main wing, like the Honda Jet.

The splash water off of the hull can probably be blocked by the bottom of the wing.

This would possibly yield a usable configuration, at the cost of two very expensive engines.

 

[fastdancin]

There's nothing more frustrating than trying to adapt something to your needs when the material isn't there to begin with.