Jerry Burr
MEMBER
Sedro Woolley, Washington.
There are those that say that all J-3?s should stay stocker than thou and never leave the traffic pattern. I say phooey. I would like to address anyone who wants to travel in their 3/11 and those who are building lite Cubs, starting with -3 parts. I will address the latter first, you non-experimental folks please stay with me. I have been following some of the posts lately and this is what I see. First thing is SC landing gear. Why? It just adds a lot of weight . And which would you rather do. Bolt on a new gear Vee and fix your wing tip and go flying, or put it in a jig to re-weld the gear fittings into the clusters, fix your wing tip and then go flying? Then the SC upper deck. Cut off some alum. and weld on some steel tube. To get some room over your head that you can?t use unless you add a taller heavier SC seat. The dash is still going to hit your knees at the same place no matter how high you sit. And then the Alum. headliner. What are you ever going to haul that is going to kick it?s way out the roof? Alum. sides on the baggage compartment, same question. Extended SC style baggage compartment. If you get a contract to haul feathers, the extra room may be useful. With all this stuff you will have an underpowered SC (dog) or a overweight J-3 (dog).
O.K. you J-3/PA-11 guys, thanks for waiting. You don?t need a 337 or a heavy plastic box that you have to carry around for the rest of your life, just a wife that can sew and some blue denim.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/rr.jpg
I will go by item numbers. #1 bag goes under the rear seat on the door side. If you go to Alaska or Canada you have to carry survival food. Using plastic quart peanut butter jars and food tabs, this bag will carry three weeks of calories for two people. Seal the zipper shut with thread and date the tag. #2 goes under the opposite side of the rear seat. Unless you are carrying two people and are going north. Then this bag is left out and replaced with #7 the tie down kit and #17 two sets extra tie down ropes and the 2.5lb axe. (not shown) and usually window cleaner. I have a 21? wide 16?deep 20? long baggage compartment. It is made of medium duck. The same as the original baggage box. It will hold anything that I can legally carry. Bag #5 and it?s twin. (not shown, I didn?t have enough coats to fill it for the picture) are the clothes bags. They are sewn to fit cross ways one on top of the other behind the rear seat. #6 is the food bag. It has the stove, steamer, dishes, freeze dried food. All of the food is in this bag. It sits on top of the clothes bags. (don?t want to smash the apples). #8 is the tool bag. It goes on the bottom rear of the baggage. Along with two #15?s.(quarts of oil). #10 is my feather pillow if I am traveling solo. If not I carry a pillow case and stuff my coat into it. Works fine. #16 is 14 gals of gas if I am solo. (good for 3 hrs). #11 is two sleeping bags and mats. I carry both, solo or not. They are lite bags and I stuff one inside the other is the temp is expected to be below 0deg. If you are in Mexico or a very hot place, I stack both mats and both bags in one pile. If you sleep on the top of the pile it kills most off the heat coming from the ground. #12 is a spare blanket. #13 is a reflective dash cover, it goes up the spar tubes and protects the cockpit also. #14 is tent and poles. Get a tent that has poles that come together to form a V not that cross and make an X. The X type will beat you to death in a high wind. I don?t have but can get a picture. #3 is the fuel funnel. I tuck it up under the dash. Under the front seat is usually oil rags and spare shoes. A couple of other handy items. One is several pee bags. Double a quart ziplock. (always double it) Yes your wife can use this also. But I understand it?s tricky. They never need it in good weather. The most important item in the airplane is a spitzer bottle. (spray bottle to you guys). Keep it full of clean water. At the end of a 6 hour leg in hot weather is the worst time to try and land in unfamiliar country. A couple of squirts in the face and chest and you are wide awake and ready to tackle anything. You can also take a spitzer (sponge ) bath in your tent in the evening. It?s also handy to dampen your hair in the morning before combing. ( I am finding this option to become less and less useful.) You can also use it to soften bugs on the windscreen, and drink from it if your water bottle becomes empty. And use it to clean all the leading edges at the airshow.
These are the underseat storage bags.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/hi.jpg
This is the survival kit. It contains at least. 1st aid kit, Compass, Flares in sealed container, Two mosquito headnets, Candle lantern, Color sheet (orange), Flexible band saw, Pocket knife, Lighters, Matches in waterproof container, Bullets (super heavy duty prescribed pain pills), Signal mirror, 2 boxes of waterproof matches, 3 Triangular bandages, 2 18by36 Compress, Whistle, 2 Space blankets, Mosquito dope, Gloves, Spare candles, String, Snare wire (30inches), Roll 88 electrical tape, Fire starter, 5 Leather thongs, Fruit juice capsules, Curved needle and cord, Sutures and thread. Just pull the 4 red Velcro tabs and it drops in your lap, or you pick it up depending on your orientation. And out you go. Notice the yellow life vest and the two pee bags stuck in the spar.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/jj.jpg
This is my cargo plate if I have no passengers.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/kk.jpg
The same plate with 14 gals of gas.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/ll.jpg
This is everything that was laying on the ground. There is a lot of empty space. It always gets taken. Tripods, video cameras, you know the stuff.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/nn.jpg
The same with no pax. A lot more space this way plus the room on the floor. This space is usually taken by boxes that just fit between the wall and the control column.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/mm.jpg
This is a box that covers the SC elevator pulley. (it?s liter than the J-3 setup) It usually holds the cameras.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/ss.jpg
The intercom is also shown here. I have two seat bottoms. One has the intercom, battery, and jacks, and the other is bare. One bolt changes them when the intercom is not needed.
I have camped for up to 3 weeks with this gear, from the Bahamas to the southern tip of Old Mexico. Numerous trips to Alaska and several to New York. And everywhere in-between, in what I consider complete comfort. Oh- Yea, 21 or 22 trips to California. These ideas have evolved over 29 years of X-country travel in a J-3. I hope someone can use something out of this. This world is just as beautiful at 75-80 or 100 mph. Just go ahead and do it! Jerry.
O.K. you J-3/PA-11 guys, thanks for waiting. You don?t need a 337 or a heavy plastic box that you have to carry around for the rest of your life, just a wife that can sew and some blue denim.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/rr.jpg
I will go by item numbers. #1 bag goes under the rear seat on the door side. If you go to Alaska or Canada you have to carry survival food. Using plastic quart peanut butter jars and food tabs, this bag will carry three weeks of calories for two people. Seal the zipper shut with thread and date the tag. #2 goes under the opposite side of the rear seat. Unless you are carrying two people and are going north. Then this bag is left out and replaced with #7 the tie down kit and #17 two sets extra tie down ropes and the 2.5lb axe. (not shown) and usually window cleaner. I have a 21? wide 16?deep 20? long baggage compartment. It is made of medium duck. The same as the original baggage box. It will hold anything that I can legally carry. Bag #5 and it?s twin. (not shown, I didn?t have enough coats to fill it for the picture) are the clothes bags. They are sewn to fit cross ways one on top of the other behind the rear seat. #6 is the food bag. It has the stove, steamer, dishes, freeze dried food. All of the food is in this bag. It sits on top of the clothes bags. (don?t want to smash the apples). #8 is the tool bag. It goes on the bottom rear of the baggage. Along with two #15?s.(quarts of oil). #10 is my feather pillow if I am traveling solo. If not I carry a pillow case and stuff my coat into it. Works fine. #16 is 14 gals of gas if I am solo. (good for 3 hrs). #11 is two sleeping bags and mats. I carry both, solo or not. They are lite bags and I stuff one inside the other is the temp is expected to be below 0deg. If you are in Mexico or a very hot place, I stack both mats and both bags in one pile. If you sleep on the top of the pile it kills most off the heat coming from the ground. #12 is a spare blanket. #13 is a reflective dash cover, it goes up the spar tubes and protects the cockpit also. #14 is tent and poles. Get a tent that has poles that come together to form a V not that cross and make an X. The X type will beat you to death in a high wind. I don?t have but can get a picture. #3 is the fuel funnel. I tuck it up under the dash. Under the front seat is usually oil rags and spare shoes. A couple of other handy items. One is several pee bags. Double a quart ziplock. (always double it) Yes your wife can use this also. But I understand it?s tricky. They never need it in good weather. The most important item in the airplane is a spitzer bottle. (spray bottle to you guys). Keep it full of clean water. At the end of a 6 hour leg in hot weather is the worst time to try and land in unfamiliar country. A couple of squirts in the face and chest and you are wide awake and ready to tackle anything. You can also take a spitzer (sponge ) bath in your tent in the evening. It?s also handy to dampen your hair in the morning before combing. ( I am finding this option to become less and less useful.) You can also use it to soften bugs on the windscreen, and drink from it if your water bottle becomes empty. And use it to clean all the leading edges at the airshow.
These are the underseat storage bags.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/hi.jpg
This is the survival kit. It contains at least. 1st aid kit, Compass, Flares in sealed container, Two mosquito headnets, Candle lantern, Color sheet (orange), Flexible band saw, Pocket knife, Lighters, Matches in waterproof container, Bullets (super heavy duty prescribed pain pills), Signal mirror, 2 boxes of waterproof matches, 3 Triangular bandages, 2 18by36 Compress, Whistle, 2 Space blankets, Mosquito dope, Gloves, Spare candles, String, Snare wire (30inches), Roll 88 electrical tape, Fire starter, 5 Leather thongs, Fruit juice capsules, Curved needle and cord, Sutures and thread. Just pull the 4 red Velcro tabs and it drops in your lap, or you pick it up depending on your orientation. And out you go. Notice the yellow life vest and the two pee bags stuck in the spar.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/jj.jpg
This is my cargo plate if I have no passengers.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/kk.jpg
The same plate with 14 gals of gas.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/ll.jpg
This is everything that was laying on the ground. There is a lot of empty space. It always gets taken. Tripods, video cameras, you know the stuff.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/nn.jpg
The same with no pax. A lot more space this way plus the room on the floor. This space is usually taken by boxes that just fit between the wall and the control column.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/mm.jpg
This is a box that covers the SC elevator pulley. (it?s liter than the J-3 setup) It usually holds the cameras.
http://www.supercub.org/upload/burr/ss.jpg
The intercom is also shown here. I have two seat bottoms. One has the intercom, battery, and jacks, and the other is bare. One bolt changes them when the intercom is not needed.
I have camped for up to 3 weeks with this gear, from the Bahamas to the southern tip of Old Mexico. Numerous trips to Alaska and several to New York. And everywhere in-between, in what I consider complete comfort. Oh- Yea, 21 or 22 trips to California. These ideas have evolved over 29 years of X-country travel in a J-3. I hope someone can use something out of this. This world is just as beautiful at 75-80 or 100 mph. Just go ahead and do it! Jerry.
