Other Hobbies

[alemonkey]

Designing/Building an experimental aircraft

Lucky.....I've wanted to fly my whole life. I found the local sailplane club (in Omaha, actually) is really affordable, though. $100 a year plus $35 a month dues, and they'll provide instruction. SWMBO vetoed it, but one of these years I'm just going to do it and let her scream.

 

[Hopfan]

Flatterer, Flatterer.

The funny thing is that until I met my husband, most guys thought I was weird. My husband loves me because, in his words, "You're a guy but with t!ts." I know, that's not the most romantic thing but it's true. He says he's married to his best friend, but with sex. I think most guys would hate it, so I'm lucky to have him. I fix things around the house, brew, drink lots of beer, play hockey, love football and basketball, and canoe, fish and hunt. I cook sometimes (but not too often). He cooks, works fulltime, gardens, and does most of the laundry. He does ALL of the grocery shopping. He even does the coupon clipping.

I guess I'm VERY lucky to have HIM! And he is most appreciative of my "assets" that BOSTON referred to!

Lorena

Why don't you guys do a video diary and submit it to Discovery and/or the Outdoor channel? This cuts across all the stereotypes and I bet that everyone would watch. The HomeBrewTalk members alone would boost the ratings.

 

[drinker]

Besides home brewing ....

What are your other hobbies?

Reading, fly fishing and growing many vegetables and herbs:fro:

drinker

 

[Hopfan]

I design, build and fly RC aircraft, though I haven't had much stick time AK (after kids), play golf, coach football, woodwork, and I'm restoring a '67 Firebird with my 10 year old who can't wait to get behind the wheel. I've had my eye on a 69 GTO for my youngest, but the owner won't sell (he's just letting it sit rotting away next to his barn!!!) "Honey, I know he's only 6, but this will be a "long term" project" Plus, I am building a home business since I left the corporate hell so I take care of the house, the kids and cook. I guess I'll sleep when I'm dead.

 

[Petey]

Used to toy with old VW's, but with the addition of another kid, i'm gonna be letting that one go and just doing more brewing. Other than that just running so that i can drink more beer.

 

[snaproll]

I fly radio controlled airplanes also, mostly the big ones ( over 6 or 7 ft wings)
I also like to fish in lake Erie and many inland lakes in Mich.
I also like to shoot my 9MM pistol when I can.
I write the Airplane club newsletter and am the secretary of the brew club.
and work full time, this all keeps me occupied.
Oh and brew whenever I get a chance.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Lucky.....I've wanted to fly my whole life. I found the local sailplane club (in Omaha, actually) is really affordable, though. $100 a year plus $35 a month dues, and they'll provide instruction. SWMBO vetoed it, but one of these years I'm just going to do it and let her scream.

You should DEFINITELY let her scream. I can't understand marriages where one partner would truly be upset if the other wanted to do something like that. I mean as long as you can afford it, and it doesn't hurt your relationship in any real way, she should just get over it. But what do I know? I'm single, so I'm allowed to think that way.

By designing do you mean your own design? Or building on another design? ... I would list flying as a hobby, but that seems more like a failed career choice.

I mean designing my own. I've been reading and studying aerodynamic texts for about 10 years now. I spent a number of years as an A&P. I had been building a experimental, but I lost interest once it was about 80% complete. I guess I just needed something a little different... so now I'm working on my own design. The test wing is about 50% built right now. It's just going to be used for "wind-tunnel tests" (bolted to the back of a pickup to test different flap configurations), and then I'm going to take molds from it for the final pieces. It's all being done on paper and carefully documented, but from the top of my head, here are the target specs...

Engine 60-80hp, under 120lbs
empty weight- 450lbs
gross weight- 700lbs
Length- 13'
airfoil- 63-215 with 32% noseflap and double slotted flaps and flaperons.
Wing Area- 34sq. ft.
Wingspan- 17'
Chord- 2'
cruise- 180kts
cruise@24Kasl- 250kts
stall- 36kts


In a nutshell, how small, light, and cheap can you make a fast airplane? I've got my eye set on the Hexadyne P60 motor (60hp, 2 cylinder, 4 stroke and an 89lbs weight). Of course, it'll be turbo-normalized. High wing-loading, and a ****-ton of flaps.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Lucky.....I've wanted to fly my whole life. I found the local sailplane club (in Omaha, actually) is really affordable, though. $100 a year plus $35 a month dues, and they'll provide instruction. SWMBO vetoed it, but one of these years I'm just going to do it and let her scream.

You should DEFINITELY let her scream. I can't understand marriages where one partner would truly be upset if the other wanted to do something like that. I mean as long as you can afford it, and it doesn't hurt your relationship in any real way, she should just get over it. But what do I know? I'm single, so I'm allowed to think that way.

I must be lucky, too. My wife is the one that pushed me into flying (homebrewing too, for that matter) because she knew I wanted to. Then after my problems with my eye she pushed me again to get back into it because she knew I missed it even though I was willing to chuck it. It's a good thing, too, because my son is always telling me how much he misses flying with me. Yup- I'm pretty lucky.

 

[Ivan Lendl]

I play Tennis (duh) and Ive recently formed a surf band (The Cachalots) and we'll be playing shows in and around Virginia Beach this summer for anyone interested.

 

[Hopfan]

Engine 60-80hp, under 120lbs
empty weight- 450lbs
gross weight- 700lbs
Length- 13'
airfoil- 63-215 with 32% noseflap and double slotted flaps and flaperons.
Wing Area- 34sq. ft.
Wingspan- 17'
Chord- 2'
cruise- 180kts
cruise@24Kasl- 250kts
stall- 36kts


In a nutshell, how small, light, and cheap can you make a fast airplane? I've got my eye set on the Hexadyne P60 motor (60hp, 2 cylinder, 4 stroke and an 89lbs weight). Of course, it'll be turbo-normalized. High wing-loading, and a ****-ton of flaps.

This looks sweet. Post some pics or drawings of the wing design when you have time. I'd love to see that. Many, many years ago, one of the guys in the club I used to fly with designed an experimental with a front opening flap on the front of the wings. Most guys bet that when he deployed, it would fly underground. It had an amazing lift characteristic, but the drag was real high and made it unstable at lower speeds in wind. Cool experiment though.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

This looks sweet. Post some pics or drawings of the wing design when you have time. I'd love to see that. Many, many years ago, one of the guys in the club I used to fly with designed an experimental with a front opening flap on the front of the wings. Most guys bet that when he deployed, it would fly underground. It had an amazing lift characteristic, but the drag was real high and made it unstable at lower speeds in wind. Cool experiment though.

Yeah, drag is a big issue, but most planes in this category have around 55-80 sq ft of wing area, so even with the high drag, the surface area of my design is pretty tiny (34sqft). Just standing next to the wing, I think to myself, "Uhh.. this is it? 7.75 feet outward from the cockpit? That's all the wing I've got?" But the math says it'll fly... and so everything is scaled way the heck down and that should help. I agree that if you stick a 60 sqft wing on a low-powered plane and try to have a flaps set up like this, you're beggin for trouble, but my calculations say that with everything deployed, it should still have less drag than some ultralights with similar HP numbers. It's only when the flaps and gear come up that things should get exciting.

The real problem is going to be the forces on the tail. Flaps cause the center of lift to go backwards on the wing and this shifts the CG more forward (relatively speaking), so you need more down elevator to compensate. A big elevator with large control surfaces negate the gains you get from the tiny wing, etc... It's all a big balancing act. If I can keep the plane under 450lbs, everything will be good.

 

[zweasel]

I like to play Firefighter and EMT in myspare time, the rest of the time I spend in the woods with my kids Geocaching, hunting, fishing and brewing for the guys on my department. My wife says that I never have any spare time.

 

[dibby33]

Raising 1 child, another on way.
Building an extension on the house
Walking dog (Border collie - takes a lot of exercise!)
Fishing
Horse racing (SWMBO side has horses)
Trying to finish the big crossword in the sunday paper (just once, that is all i need and I will never attempt it again!!!)
Drinking enough beer to warrent thinking about running

 

[rdwj]

I do some home improvement - just finished my basement bathroom and just started studding out the rest of it. Besides that, I don't do much - with work, school and working on my MBA, I don't have much free time.

I like all sorts of games, but at this point, online Risk is about all I ever play

 

[Yooper]

Why don't you guys do a video diary and submit it to Discovery and/or the Outdoor channel? This cuts across all the stereotypes and I bet that everyone would watch. The HomeBrewTalk members alone would boost the ratings.

Because, quite frankly, we're not that interesting really. Just a slight role reversal. The funny part is my daughter is a real "girly girl" and my son is a total "man's man". You sound much more interesting, leaving the corporate world to raise your family.

I'm kind of surprised at all the different hobbies and interests there are among all of us. I like to hear about the aircraft, musical talents, and RC stuff. I have no talent for any of that, so I love to hear about the amazing things you guys are building.

Lorena

 

[RichBrewer]

I like to do wood working and carpentry. I finished a room in the basement for my son and had a blast. (saved me a ton of money too)
We also have a collection of 4 corn snakes. I love the colors in them and they are easy to take care of.
I collect coins as well but my interest comes and goes.

 

[Wort*hog]

I'm 50 something and had my lifestyle curtailed a few years back by having a new family late in life. My little guys are now 7&8 so heading out on the highway on my motorcycle has givin way to doin things with the boys. We garden, fish and spend time together. My wife is from Mexico so I spend a lot of time learning Spanish and eating oh so well. The mrs. supports my home brewing as her older boys ( I love them too) come around a bit more often to sample my wares. Life is good

 

[AdIn]

I play tennis, like to to shoot and also try to experiment with some woodworking. Would be nice to have more time of work...

 

[Brewiz]

Riding my Harley and spending time with my boys (14 and 15). Getting ready to build an addition to the BrewShed afterwards I can call it the Brewery.. Can't wait to get that started (more room for brewing)!!!

 

[loopmd]

Jeeping, camping, hunting, fishing. We can usually do all of those at once. I also like to do woodworking in my spare time. But more recently, trying to figure out how to get my 2 daughters (ages 12 and 15) to realize that it is more fun to go jeeping, camping, hunting and fishing then it is to go to the mall with their friends!

loop

 

[Hopfan]

Because, quite frankly, we're not that interesting really. Just a slight role reversal. The funny part is my daughter is a real "girly girl" and my son is a total "man's man". You sound much more interesting, leaving the corporate world to raise your family.

I'm kind of surprised at all the different hobbies and interests there are among all of us. I like to hear about the aircraft, musical talents, and RC stuff. I have no talent for any of that, so I love to hear about the amazing things you guys are building.

Lorena

I wonder if Food Network would be interested in a show about cooking up beer? I don't miss the average workday life, but I sure do miss the paychecks.:cross:

 

[dancingbarefoot]

• knitting (by hand or with a knitting machine - yay for mechanical contraptions!)
• camping (in a tent, roughing it - no cushy campgrounds or RVs)
• hiking (day hikes and extended backpacking trips)
• biking
• travel
• gardening
• fishing (caught my first king salmon at the age of 4, probably mostly dad's doing)

 

[Rhoobarb]

My other hobbies are model railroading, rail photography (kinda helps with the modeling) and music/guitars. Picking up a new Fender Squire to noodle with this week!

 

[kyedos]

Well I'm new to homebrewing but other hobbies include motorcycle travels, art, musuems, camping, photography and remodeling this old house. The house is less of a hobby and more of a job, lol.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Well, I've been into traveling and photography since pre-teenage years.

I've been to many places around the globe. I lived in Germany for 9 years. Been to the orient twice.

Then there's brewing...home improvements are fun...playing guitar for a number of years...to name a few...

 

[dancingbarefoot]

Oh yeah, music! How could I forget? I've been playing sax for nearly two decades, starting on alto and moving to baritone. Used to be in several bands, including a jazz band that I loved, but I moved and haven't looked into joining any other band. Playing jazz is a great pasttime.

 

[brewman !]

I like to hike, ski, snowboard, mountain bike, road cycle and camp in an RV. After a long day on the trail, I want good food, a warm bed and some creature comforts. I tented for many, many years.

I forgot kayaking. I like that too. I'm also an amateur photographer.

I play a bit of guitar. I think I'm going to take up drums for the fun of it. Too many things to do, too little time !

 

[todd_k]

video games, scambaiting, playing with Floyd, watching tv. All of this has suffered due to the recent move.

 

[rdwj]

playing with Floyd

Is that what you call it?

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

internet porn and drinking. What more could there possibly be?