Greetings, I am overhauling my 2001 MT 7-235 that I bought three years ago in preparation for a bucket list trip to Alaska. I know that most of the members here on the forum are tail dragger guys and the bias runs heavily in that direction but for me as a low time pilot, and a farmer with GPS leveled fields and nice graded strips to land on, the MT serves my needs well. I have learned so much from this forum that I thought I would try to pass along some of the good ideas that I've borrowed from others. This Maule started life as a Civil Air Patrol Plane and has the paint job to prove it. I'm the 4th owner. According to the logs the plane suffered a prop strike at the 500.6 Hr mark. The engine was pulled and the crank was replaced under the Lycoming crank AD. The prop was of course also replaced along with both mufflers and the alternate air box. No other damage was reported. My plan for this overhaul is to lighten as much as I can and improve safety & performance where ever I can. I know that we are limited in what we can do in the certified world but living in the most regulated state in the nation and having an ingrained belief that it's easier to get forgiveness than permission, I'm going to see how far I can go. I checked the last weight and balance, 1,704.9 lbs! I know that I can never make this MT as light as an olio gear tail dragger due to the fact the extra frame, nose gear, and spring gear are heavy. But this fat lady is going on a carbon fiber diet. For no particular reason, I'm starting with the wings first. The right flap has a number of cracks in the skin at the left edge due to air hammering from the McCauley 81 inch two blade prop. (I'm replacing the Aluminum prop with the new Hartzell three-blade Carbon Fiber unit, buts that's for another day) I am going to send the flap to Maule for a re-skinning. I could do it my self but it would take me a lot of time and their price is very reasonable. I'm replacing the 680g Whelan wing tip position/strobe lights with the 175g (including the optional noise suppressor) Aveo LED's. That's a savings of 2.23 lbs. I am swapping out the 2,378g Maule fiberglass wing tips for the 1,417g or (50 oz according to Randy) carbon fiber tips from Carbon Concepts. A savings of 4.24 lbs. I am going to swap out the incandescent landing lights for the LoPresti 28v 85w HID Boom Beam units (according to Lopresti, they will work in wig wag mode). I am swapping out the Maule fuel senders for the CiES digital units as they are reported to be much more accurate. I will run 1 new power wire to each of the digital fuel senders as required. I will post the loss or gain in weight for the new fuel senders and landing lights as soon as they arrive. The interior is next. [/img][/img][/img][/b]

Nice!

I think I owned your plane at one point. I put a lot of $'s in avionics upgrade in the plane. Nice IFR plane. Good luck with the improvements you are doing.

So how much per pound lost did it cost you.

Dat. It truley is a small world. Thanks for the kind words and taking such good care of my bird! Regards, Ed

Gbarrier, Now there you go throwing cold water on an obsession. I will answer your question this way. I've worked hard for my money, paid my taxes, taken care of my family, and this is what I do for enjoyment. It affords me the opportunity to temporarily forget that live in a state full of lunatics and that is truly priceless to me. BTW Have you been talking to my wife?

I know and suffer from this same disease. Coming from a background of dirt bikes and off-road trucks I can tell you, once you start modifying something it is very difficult to stop!

crbnunit, It sounds like we developed our disease's in a similar fashion. I used to race D-38 and Baja in the late 70ies and 80ies. My Son's also raced, but when Kurt Caselli, who my Son's adored, died after hitting a cow at warp speed in the Baja south of Mexicali, we decided to give up racing. The disease has stayed, it's just changed focus. Now it's Maule's.

interested in your used parts. please PM me

interested in your used parts. please PM me