Steve

In the bushes behind the service station?

Cheers Si, It was a joy to play with the thing for a couple of days. Because of the experience of working with it, my next paramotor will be the Zenith v5 or Thor 200 (but probably v5 if the engines can be produced quicker) because they are so so gorgeous and usable.

It's a two blade as standard with an option for the three. Couldn't get the performance figures in time though.

Until I took up paramotoring, the last two stroke engine In owned was in 1979 in my moped. Ever since my bikes were four stroke and brilliant. I'm now on my second two stroke paramotor and I struggling with a specific issue. I'd forgotten how temperamental they are, you can't do this or you mustn't do that, don't keep the revs constant for too long ... but that's not really the issue. It's getting the engine to run properly and constantly that I can't seem to get. To improve on the lumpy four stroking issue between low and high jets I got a proper float bowl carb for my latest engine. The big issue I have, and cannot seem to solve, is when I have been on gentle cruise for a while and then ease off the throttle, then try to accelerate again - the engine bogs down, I can go to full throttle and there's nothing there, the revs don't budge an inch. It can take 5-10 seconds or more for the engine to recover and power to become available again, during which time altitude has been lost and I start looking for landing sites in case the engine stays unusable. I've tried various mixture adjustments but it still happens. The plug is (subtly) oily black with no signs of white deposits. Can anyone with a knowledge of two strokes give me some advice; I'm assuming the engine is either temporarily dry of fuel (which is obviously bad for lubrication too) or it's flooding (although it doesn't feel like that). Something to do with the transition through the crankcase? The engine is a Thor 100 with a PWK carb. I'm running Shell premium petrol with Motul 800 oil at 1.5%. I'll await the 'should have bought a Bailey' engine comments - I should have but there was a long delivery time and I was without a paramotor. Thanks

I was privileged to get the job of creating the Zenith manual for Parajet. It's on the Parajet website and shows a lot of the details which make the Zenith special. Worth a look if you are thinking about getting a new paramotor. http://www.parajet.com/owners/ Right click to download it (view it in a pdf reader, better than viewing in a browser).

The oil doesn't ignite with the petrol so the burn would be leaner and hotter? Wouldn't it? ... I always thought the oil burnt as a consequence of the petrol igniting, I am beginning to realise that I know nothing.

He does have a point; nowhere in the UK can we get decent training for barefeet children without a helmet to fly over water. I know he excels in that. I also suspect the BHPA qualification for getting nicked by the police isn't quite as good as the Dell award.

http://blog.cafefoundation.org/?p=6096

After weeks of mostly unflyable weather in the Brecon Beacons I found a slot just after sunrise. Within a few hours it was back to normal, wind, rain, mist, cloud, rain, rain ... [vimeo] [/vimeo]

Second that (and it has recently been updated).

Which engine?

The Zenith comes apart into a small space for travelling. No tools needed to assemble. Stand is removable without tools, can be flown with or without it fitted. The spars are replaceable individually should you prang it (won't damage the chassis). Comes with two spare spars. Fuel tank removes by one pin and a quick-release ratchet (and two snap connectors on the fuel lines). Feels even lighter than the figures suggest. Has the new Parajet lightweight harness which takes about ten seconds to remove (no tools). Choice of engine. Looks stunning.

This appears to be doing the rounds this morning Dear Customer, We found a 200 engine THOR an abnormal de-clamping screw propeller housing. Naturally, it can compromise the safety in flight. Can not ensure that it does not check on other engines, check the proper closure of these screws (shown in the photograph attached to pieces) by unscrewing them (one by one to avoid any oil leak) and screw by putting a drop of medium strength Loctite. We apologize for the inappropriate and not to have discovered during our testing prior to sale, but we're sure you'll understand and we count on you to notify all owners of THOR 200 sold so far, to able to proceed with this control and avoid the problem in future. Regarding the new engines, we have changed the trial assembly.

Thanks for the tip. Was it a new machine?

Sounds like I might - Funnily enough I was asking about them that yesterday. Looking forward to seeing it - I had assumed it was for the Parajet engines not the Polini. What's this about the spacer issue?

Had considered that but Loctite is very reliable and definitely quicker to do!

It's carbon but comes loose every flight, not so that the bolts can be turned by hand but the have an eighth of a turn to get them back to 14nm. Loctite holds everything else on so it's going on the prop bolts too now.

Has anyone else received a Polini Thor with prop bolts using plain washers (no locking washers or nyloc inserts)? I just put the prop on to 14nm as I was so keen to fly it but then had several weeks of having to retighten it during every pre-flight check. I kind of assumed that it would be locking washers as standard (I know, assume nothing). My old Volution had locking washers plus the prop rotation kept everything tight, no prop bolts ever came loose. The Thor rotation is the opposite so the bolts are bound to undo. Left handed threads would have been a good idea perhaps (as well as locking washers). The loctite 243 is out of the tool box and ready for action, albeit a bit retrospectively.

Cheers guys. Alan, I'll have a piece soaking, great idea. Simon, interesting thought of cow-pat in a bottle. You're probably right, the ingredients are non-toxic when ingested and the container is made of plastic. Paul, I'll explain to the kids that their paddling pool is out of service and it was someone else's idea.

Sound advice Si. I have been tearing the place apart and have found the cause. A brand new Miracle-Gro Liquafeed thing that you plug into a hosepipe for your lawn. It is leaking everywhere so must have been put on the racking at some point. Being brand new you'd expect it to not leak! I feel better having narrowed it down - The ingredients are likely to contain some nasties, does anyone know if any of the following would be corrosive to wing fabric? Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potash, Boron, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Zinc, EDTA Some of these are fractions of a percent of the content I think. WIsh I'd been more attentive in chemistry lessons back in 1979.

My wing gets treated better than my kids. It is never folded, always packed loose in a stuff sack after flying and then opened out to breath when back home and stored on a rack in a large dehumidified basement room. But today I went to take it out for some ground handling as the weather wasn't flyable and as soon as I touched the bag my hand was wet. The wing was covered in what I prayed was only water. It wasn't, it was a blue liquid, looking a bit like screenwash. Nothing nasty had been stored on the shelf above the wing but there it was all over the wing and the racking. I dabbed a bit onto my tongue, praying that one of the kids had been in and spilled apple juice on it but it was very very salty/chemically tasting - New expletives were invented at that moment. I spent the next hour and a half in the garden with damp sponges and cloths desperately trying to clean all traces of this stuff off. I don't know what residue may be left but all the liquid was in obvious blobs so the wing's coating was still working. I don't know if this stuff is corrosive or not, whether it got onto any seam stitching and whether my cleaning has been sufficient. Nobody has held their hand up about putting anything on the shelf above the wing and I doubt they will after seeing me frantically pulling the place apart trying to find the source liquid. In reality there was probably only a small area affected but having cleaned it I now don't know where those areas were. Maybe a call to The Loft is in order. The moral of the story is: Build a brick building with security locks, cameras, a sentry and electric fences and use it just for keeping your wing protected.

Looks like they've hacked a legit seller's account.

You have made UK news with this yesterday.

My kids would love that.

One.