I just weighed my RV-8A and am a little confused. I have a Mattituck TMXOF-360 (FADEC) 180HP and a Whirlwind 200RV propeller with a PC680 battery in the back. The Whirlwind propeller is about 40 lbs and the FADEC system adds about 7lbs net weight in the engine/firewall area and it also has a backup battery that is about 6-8 lbs (I think, have to verify) that I installed behind the firewall. My empty weight is 1088 (no paint, with fairings) and my CG is 76.78?. I?m okay with the empty weight, but the CG troubles me. I was expecting with the light prop (compared to Hartzell) and battery in back that I would get if anything a slightly tail heavy condition. This is based on other -8A?a and their CG?s. The problem that I have with the CG is that flying solo will be barely within the forward limit. One option is to move the backup battery to the back as well, which should put me at around 77.47?, which seems much more palatable.
I did measure the distance to each wheel from the wing leading edge with plumb bobs and string. I had some scales that were less that perfect, even though they were certified. When I weighed myself on them, they read 192, 196, 233. The first two sound about right, the third is not. So what I did is weighed the plane three times, each time rotating the scales. I then took an average weight of the two ?good? scales for each wheel. Even the two ?good? scales disagreed with each other by 5, 8, & 10 lbs. for the nose, left and right wheel. I had the airplane very close to level by using 2x4?s under the main wheel scales and letting the air out of the nose wheel each time. I think that it was within about 0.2 or 0.3? of level. I have all inspection panels, baggage compartments, and seats installed as well as oil and brake fluid.
I plan to remeasure the wheel positions tomorrow to make sure that is good. Otherwise, I?m confused what happened. Maybe I put too much weight into the cowl when I did some ?surgical? work on it. Any thoughts?
I did measure the distance to each wheel from the wing leading edge with plumb bobs and string. I had some scales that were less that perfect, even though they were certified. When I weighed myself on them, they read 192, 196, 233. The first two sound about right, the third is not. So what I did is weighed the plane three times, each time rotating the scales. I then took an average weight of the two ?good? scales for each wheel. Even the two ?good? scales disagreed with each other by 5, 8, & 10 lbs. for the nose, left and right wheel. I had the airplane very close to level by using 2x4?s under the main wheel scales and letting the air out of the nose wheel each time. I think that it was within about 0.2 or 0.3? of level. I have all inspection panels, baggage compartments, and seats installed as well as oil and brake fluid.
I plan to remeasure the wheel positions tomorrow to make sure that is good. Otherwise, I?m confused what happened. Maybe I put too much weight into the cowl when I did some ?surgical? work on it. Any thoughts?
