First thing I thought of too, but it seems that even with the empty CG "correct", it is still a little nose heavy when solo. It goes to reason then that placing the CG to make solo flight "correct", you would be tail heavy flying dual. The only fix for that is to add weight in the front baggage compartment, but because of the reduced moment, you'd need a lot more of it. Can anybody counter this train of thought?
The counter, more or less: You definitely should not need forward baggage weight if the battery is in the back and you have a heavy passenger (unless we are talking a Shamu sized behomoth here). I have an RV-8 with the battery in the back along with an ELT the size of a large brick. Empty weight is 1071. Old style gages. She has a Hartzell C/S on the nose and an O-360.
I am roughly 210. With a passenger of equal weight in the back she trims out very nicely with no added weight to the front baggage, regardless of fuel load, and is faily easy and stable to land. So I think your fear of having to add forward weight would be unfounded, especially if you have an 8A.
The best answer I think, albeit the most work, would be to yank that battery off the firewall.
Without the passenger in the back, my -8 is definitely nose heavy but well within the limits of available trim and CG. I can say that less trim changes are required with the guy in back, but once I get over the fact that I actually have to dial in a good bit of trim for solo on final, the weight on final comes off the stick nicely. But you definitely need a good deal more UP trim to keep her neutral. I can not imagine having a nose gear assembly AND a battery up front.
My suggestion would be to move that battery back during the down season if you have one. Me, I call it quits when I can't feel my toes...
I think you will be very pleased with the result.
I do not know if this is relevant...but I generally three point land the -8, which does not seem to be the consensus on the BBS...but after 500 hours in a Luscombe, full stall landings are kind of ingrained. Sometimes the mains hit a milisecond before the tail...and sometimes the tail hits before the mains..doh!...but I almost never wheel land it. At least not what would consider a wheel landing (level wing, tail up).