As for your tire pressure comment, it reminds me of the story told by Hunter Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where he was driving through Death Valley in his boat Cadillac and stopped for gas. The attendant asked him if he wanted the tire pressure checked and Thompson ¡°yes please and they take 100 psi¡±.? The attendant was incredulous. ?¡°But they take 32 normally sir.¡± ? Thompson replied ¡°Ah yes but these are special experimental tires¡±.? He said once he hit the road at one hundred miles per hour the handling was awful but you could feel every pebble on the road. ?
From a long time (see my sig) RV owner, the C/S prop allowing full power in acceleration and climb obviously helps, but I'll bet it was at least 74" diameter, too. Many of the F/P prop makers sell 68" props for RVs (and likely Tailwinds). That extra 6" of diameter makes a really big difference in acceleration, even with a F/P prop. I've played with various diameter F/P on my RVs I've owned over the years, and the most impressive was a Warnke 72" diameter on a 160 HP RV4. Great takeoff performance, and 170 kt (not mph) cruise.
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On tire pressure, if the guys at Van's are recommending 25 psi, they're doing it to hide the shimmy issue. I've always run 50+ in mine; if I forget to air them up and they get down to 30 psi or so the plane feels like a '68 Pontiac station wagon on the ground; I hate it.
