N37716 Begins her restoration

[kevin feauto]

Hi Folks 

Just a couple words . I Finally got my "new" Porterfield home from the storage center after about 8 months. I live on an airstrip in Florida 72FL , that i purchased a couple years ago . It's been a journey getting it like I wanted , but I'm finally ready to start building again. As some of you know , this is my second skinny bird. My first n25563 was in an accident after I sold her  and now lives with Dave Brown in Ohio. (Its for sale as a project) A few pictures are attached to show what I am starting with and now the fun begins. If anyone knows where I could find a set of serviceable gear, I'd like to know. The fuselage is pretty tweaked, but repairable. (i'd buy one of those too if the price were right). The project came with 2 sets of wings, one on the plane , one off. The former long time owner , James Gooding, has been an inspiration with his wealth of knowledge on this aircraft.  I'll post more pictures as the project progresses. Keep them flying folks .

Kevin Feauto

[David G Reichard]

I have 2 NOS (as far as I can tell) outer parts of the landing gear. Make me an offer.

[Andy Gelston]

All the mods are listed in the Type Certificate Data Sheets.  The rear spars get doublers, some of the inboard compression struts have larger cross sections/heavier wall tube, and the inboard drag/anti-drag wires are 3/16” diameter...and that’s just the wings.

[kevin feauto]

Oh Gator is a fine strip. I can get in and out with my Mooney and Colt fine. I have not yet looked closely at the wings as of yet. Honestly , I didn't know there were seaplane modifications to them. I did find a set of landing gear "v's" . I know the ones i have are repairable , but I was worried about the geometry. When the "new" ones come, I'll make a simple jig and repair the bent ones for stock. (I never bent one, but ...) I hope to get more time as the year goes. Just opposite of the year in the north land , heavy work gets done in the "winter". 70 degree days abound. Summer is usually high 80s  low 90s and equal humidity. Summers are for inside work.

[Andy Gelston]

Thank you for sharing this with us, Kevin!  Yes, John is a very generous man.  He was an enormous help to me when I was installing the seaplane conversion on 41VT.  I was on the fence about buying this plane from John and his son, and was heartsick when I learned what happened to her, up in the Dakotas.  Thank you for your dedication in getting the only factory built CS-65 back in the air.  Gator isn’t a very long strip, but you should have no problem getting this old girl in and out of there.  Does the second set of wings have the seaplane mods?