Hangar Flying

Your choice but I wouldn't be so quick to discount the Vari Eze. Assess realistically what flying you will be doing, what you can afford ie  what hangarage you have available (easy to trailer it home for a few months & store it in the garage if things get tight financially) , what fuel costs you can stand etc. Bear in mind the future too ref your earning power & costs & direct oil/fuel costs.

A good well built Vari Eze with larger than standard tanks can be/is a joy  and is an extremely efficient aircraft. Pods are an option that can narrow the storage gap between a std Long and a Pod VE.

Trailing edge fences work most on the highly swept wing of the VE to counter spanwise flow & improve climb rate, landing  and take off performance.

Standard canard has external elevator hinges/pivot screws  below the canard whereas the Roncz hinges are flush. Rutan only ever approved the Roncz on the LE. I wouldnt discount a LE just because it has an original GU canard/elevator providing it is well built & contoured well.

Pour over the Canard Pusher and get good advice and assistance from an impartial canard expert because there is a huge amount to learn and many pitfalls but the benefits are equally large.

Good luck.
Regards
Steve

Good post - I agree with everything said.
Really simple aircraft, bonus of gravity feed fuel so no pumps to go wrong, light to lift & manhandle alone (Long Ez is quite a bit bigger & heavier),  small to hanger, very economical, long range that is greater than most bladders, hugely underrated a/c once the Long Ez arrived - ideal fun cheap flyer especially in today's fuel price environment. Visibility on approach with landing brake, vortilons & ideally wing fences is excellent, approach speeds of 80kts pattern & 70kt at threshold using landing brake give good short landings. Mine has o-200 engine with C85 pistons (105 HP) with a Hertzler prop (fantastic)  & take off is brisk even at full gross.
Doesn't like grass - thats about the only drawback for me & I can live with that.
Marvellous fuel efficient aircraft - becoming rediscovered. Prices may soon reflect that more.
Regards
Steve

As the dualled  - fed together tanks of the  O-200 Vari Eze is normally gravity fed, you need to gain max ram effect by venting below the wing - two linked vents are mandatory.  

With the two tank pumped Long Ez,  the two separate tank vents'  positions are  much less critical  - hence the plans position above the canopy line.

Interestingly, after recently fitting trailing edge flow straighteners / fences to my Vari Eze, I found during testing at different approach speeds (at  a good height) with LB & Gear down that the aircraft needed less power (1500 rpm) at 65 kts   to maintain  200-300 ft/min descent rate than at 70 kts  (1550 rpm) or  80kts  (1650-1700 rpm). This was at full gross and aft CoG.

Visibility over the nose during actual approaches at these speeds was better speed for speed than without the fences.

Take off run was reduced by about 25 -50 m

They also lowered my minimum speed from about 53kts  to 48 kts and the a/c felt even more docile & controllable in roll at min speed and we saw a clear increased climb rate between 80 kts and 120 kts of between 8 -10%.
Landing ground roll was less to by about 50-75m and flare at 60 kts was again  very docile & controllable.

Overall the a/c felt much more solid & stable at low speeds.

Regards
Steve

Think I've worked it out - here goes!

Seems like a reasonable solution to me. Some drawings were not 100 % accurate in all three views.

One other point - don't drill the hole for the rudder & brake cable. This hole raises a stress point and there have been instances of fractures /gear failures in the past that started there.

This hole was only needed to keep a straight run for the original  heavily loaded 3/32" combined brake  & rudder cable.

If you fit nose mounted brakes - very strongly recommended - then the rudder only load is much much less with no need for straight lines and so  you can guide the reduced diameter (1/16") rudder only cable / nylaflow conduit round the extrusion altogether - ie take the nylaflow conduit right to the fwd face of the firewall.

Regards
Steve

Here is the page from the Canard Pusher that gives you all you need.

No offence meant but it scares me that guys operating these a/c are not in possession of and familiar with everything in the CPs. There is so much info in them and many things/gotchas  to avoid/ lessons to learn / mistakes not to make again.

They are a great read and worth their weight in gold.
Regards
Steve

Dont mount the fuel sender on the carb  whatever you do - - put it on the firewall away from vibration, the pressure difference will be negligible /immeasurable.

Be warned, Dick Rutan nearly lost his Ez when a fuel sender mounted on the carb just as you suggest sheared off. and bathed his engine compartment in avgas. He dead sticked it in but nearly threw up when he saw the blue avgas stains all over his engine compartment & cowling.

One reason why I'd never ever fly with autogas - it is more volatile, evaporates quicker and lights up at lower temperatures!!!!

The Rutan mandatory grnd instruction on this  is in one of the CP notes. Can advise Number if required.

Regards
Steve