Hey Redline,
Great news knowing there are a few us in the same area! I'm am in the very beginning stages of my build but would love to connect with you guys at some point. Definitely haven't given up on the idea of a CF seat pan.
Hey Redline,
Great news knowing there are a few us in the same area! I'm am in the very beginning stages of my build but would love to connect with you guys at some point. Definitely haven't given up on the idea of a CF seat pan.
I have built a negative mould and made a carbon/innegra(kevlar) seat. It's a lot of work.
Kitfox has publicly mentioned they won't produce a full carbon seat. Not sure if that has changed.
A full carbon one should not be made due to splintering safety concerns.
The ones seen in the past (like Trents) are fibreglass with a carbon overlay in the visual parts.
I weighed the 'lightweight' version that KF sells (no gel coat) at 6#2oz and the carbon one at 5#12oz. Hardly worth the savings for the effort.
Not sure how much the full gel-coated one weighs to compare.
🇨🇦CANADA
Flying | SS7 | G3X | Edge 912
Eric Page
Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
Map of Landings
Patrick, thanks for the weights on the carbon seat pan. I'm glad I saw this before going through the trouble of building one. You're right, not worth the weight savings unless you just want to tackle a new and interesting project.
Hey Patrick,
Thanks for the insight. Guess the splintering potential makes sense without having a gelcoat over everything. I'm moving on for now from this distraction but I did weigh my seat pan today and it comes in at 9.26lbs. I may revisit in the future.
Kevin
IMG_4655.jpg
Hey Patrick, I'd be super interested to hear how you went about making a carbon/kevlar seat. For example the method you used, the weaves and weights of cloth, how you layered, etc. Would you be willing to maybe do a detailed write up on the process? (or if you have a link to something you've written already?)
I'll PM you my contact details.
This seems to be a hotly debated topic. I don't want to appear to be falsely presenting myself as an expert or giving advice to others in contradiction to the factory.
Happy to share what I have done of my own trials and risk so you can make your own decisions.
🇨🇦CANADA
Flying | SS7 | G3X | Edge 912
Thanks, Patrick! Sent you an email there.