JdFinley.com

Fulltime RV Living Adventures

Two-Stroke Motors

Two-stroke motors are not new.  I know that this may come as a shock to some of you. In the homebuilt aviation circles that I frequent there seems to be a recurring discussion about the use of these engines in aircraft.  The discussions are usually heated and rarely have parameters established to allow those participating… [Read More]

Canopy Support Strut using a Gas Spring for the RV-3

The Vans RV-3 plans are pretty light when it comes to the open canopy retention “system”. The suggestion is to use a string/cord to hold it in the open position – mine used a white string that stands out like a sore thumb.  Aesthetically, it was horrible; functionally it was effective. It was about as… [Read More]

Ski Truck Epilogue

In initial post on this topic (here), I warned you what was coming.  In this post, I show the results!! The scenario: Wake up in my own bed, notice that the skies are clear, the ski resort has fresh snow, and the forecast is for no wind all day. The goal: Load my ski equipment… [Read More]

Not Pumping

Remember all that cash I invested in my septic system earlier this year?  If not, it is chronicled here.  In short, my lift station had collapsed and a whole new lift station was needed along with the lift pump, wiring, risers, pump out, etc… Interestingly enough, the system started backing up again the other day. … [Read More]

PVC Bike Stand

I have found that I MUST stay busy.  If I don’t, bad things start to happen (as in depression and all that it does to a person) – particularly at this time of year. Winter is an easy time for me to lay around and feel lousy, throw Christmas on top of it, and… well…… [Read More]

Filling the Void

Note from JD: This is part of the energy savings project that I started here. The most obvious first improvement to the energy efficiency of my home is the insulation of the dining room ceiling. As you can see from the photos, I have a plank type ceiling (which I really love).  For some reason,… [Read More]

The Great Brakes Alteration

For the non-pilots, the rudder pedals control the rudder on the tail of the plane – the yaw. The toe portion of these pedals are the brakes. Pushing the entire pedal fore and aft with your whole foot causes the aircraft rudder to move side to side.  Pointing your toes causes the top portion of… [Read More]

Shimmy Shimmy

The left main landing gear on my Vans RV-3B aircraft shakes at a certain speed – called a shimmy. I’ve tried balancing the wheel/tire, rotating the tire (same side, just spinning the opposite direction), removing the wheel pant, and varying tire pressure. The result is mostly the same – the speed at which the wheel… [Read More]

Ski Truck

I spent some time the last couple of days modifying my RV-3 to carry my snow skis! Work is not done yet but it’s coming along nicely.  I’m stoked.  The thought of flying up to a ski hill, skiing for the day, and being home before dinner time is way too cool. The long and… [Read More]

Review: Shimano PD-M424 Pedal

The issue: Firstly, my cheapo pedals were falling apart. Secondly, I was finding toe clips to be less than ideal on mountain trails. Pedals are one of the many bicycle components that everyone has an opinion about and it seems no two people agree – ok, there aren’t that many options.  I really wanted to try… [Read More]