Spent the afternoon re-planning the antenna and battery installation. After the contortions in WUH at Warkworth the other day, I’ll be mounting the battery close to the front edge of the luggage shelf. That should make the job of installing and removing the battery a bit easier, rather than having it at the very back as originally planned. I’ll probably have to beef up the shelf and/or frame since the intended reinforcement at the back won’t be usable now.

Funny how it didn’t occur to me how difficult this would be with the rear canopy on when I drew this up. So am really glad that Pete gave me that job last Saturday.

I’ll pick up a 12V 9Ah battery, together with a charger, circuit breaker and plug from Jaycar in Warners Bay tomorrow. These items are the exact same ones that Rob Moffat installed in WUH, and in all our CCSC gliders except for the Astir which has a LiFePo. Laurie and I decided a while ago that we didn’t want to introduce any potential issues with lithium technology, last but not least because as an EV driver I really appreciate the involved nature of EV battery management systems. Having been told by Rob that if the battery gets dropped you have to throw it away since it can no longer be trusted not to cause a fire, that was the straw that broke the camels back. So good old-fashioned SLA system here it comes.

Also spent a good hour cleaning out the cockpits, as a preamble for doing the Form2 inspection. I find that by cleaning, you get close up and personal to all the mechanisms, control cable and electrical wiring, structural attachments etc. Despite my best effort trying to find a fault I could not, it really looks in good condition throughout. Next session will be further cleaning and lubricating of all moving parts.