Offset nose gear strut with Jabiru 3300 mount.

[Chuck26287]

My first post on the forum. I'm a new member, and have recently ordered a Sonex-B tri-gear quick build for a Jabiru 3300. I have an expected delivery in early to mid-October for the airframe minus tail kit QB, and I pick the tail kit up at AirVenture next month, so I'm obviously not actually building yet. However, in researching, I've seen or heard a few references to the nose gear strut on tri-gear configurations using a Jabiru 3300 being offset to one side of center by several inches. I just wanted to pass along a piece of info on this configuration. The nose gear strut is indeed offset on the legacy A model aircrafts which are tri-gear and mount the Jabiru 3300, however, this is not the case with the B-models. I talked to Kerry at the factory, and he pulled the design drawings for this configuration to check, and replied with the following:

"The nose gear strut is NOT offset on the B-Model, as the additional room between the engine and firewall precludes the need to do that."

He also stated "the Sonex-B uses the same motor mount for both the Jabiru and UL engines".

Hopefully a useful piece of info to anyone else researching and/or considering a tri-gear build that will mount the Jabiru 3300.

[BRS]

Ever look at a Diamond DA40 (certified plane) from the front. The nose gear is off center. I flew one for several years before realizing it was off center. It's a funny thing that affected nothing.