Kremen have amalgamated with Sport prop to form a new company Woodcomp,
selling a range of wood and composite props. The old contact modes for
Kremen no longer work. They can now be contacted on the web at
www.woodcomp.cz and email mailto:info@woodcomp.cz Phone and postal address
are unchanged and are on the website.
I am pleased to say that the PFA have at last approved the
Kremen SR 2000 prop which has a VP version at US$1950 and a CS version at
US$2300. The delay was related to Frances Donaldson giving much thought to
the mode of fixing the blades into the hub, which depends on some form of
direct bonding of the wood/composite blade to alloy, backed up by two bolts
each of which has the strength to retain the unbonded blade at maximum revs.
The bonding is apparently new technology and the resistance of the system to
possible long term deterioration has not been proved and will only be proved
by service. The First such prop has been flying 4 yrs with large numbers in
service for 3yrs,without problem. Several European countries have approved
it already. The PFA approval comes with an initial time limit of three
years, which will be extended in the light of continuing satisfactory
service history. This was enough to persuade me to buy one and it should be
with me within the next week. The standard diameters are 1500 or 1700mm but
they are making this one 1625 mm or 64" which is the maximum recommended for
the Europa. If anyone is interested they will be very welcome to come and
view mine and I hope in any case to have it at next year's rally. Cheers,
David Joyce (402=XS914)
|