Oratex Success Stories

Bodacious

John Steere retired and needed a project. He ordered a set of Legal Eagle plans, but ended up designing and building what amounts to a very different airplane, which he affectionately named "Bodacious." Unlike the Eagle, Bodacious is enclosed and has folding wings, yet it still manages to come in under the weight limit for ultralights. One of the tricks to achieving legal ultralight weight is by including the doors and the cowling as part of the useful load rather than part of the empty weight. In fact, John often flies without the doors and cowling. Interestingly, the airplane is 5 mph faster without the cowling!

Before building Bodacious, John tells us his only previous experience with fabric covering was "from a Sport Air Workshop on fabric covering. It was a very good workshop, and they demonstrated the Stits Poly-Fiber process and materials. I came away from that workshop hoping to find a better process and materials set ... I eventually found Oratex and requested a sample of the fabric and material. I attached the sample to a steel frame I fabricated for the purpose, followed the instructions, and the results were excellent." Excellent indeed. So excellent that John and Bodacious won the Reserve Grand Champion Ultralight award at Oshkosh 2012.

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