Bubblehead
Well Known Member
My wife and I have several trips lined up for this flying season, and I felt inspired to give Judy some instrumentation or navigation information in the back seat of our RV-8. I've seen several mounts for 296/396/496s that looked nice, and my sister had an unused 195 sitting in a box in the basement so I thought, why not put the 195 in the back seat?
Well, I found out why to not do it, but had fun anyway. I designed something up in SolidWorks, took the flat pattern to a local sheet metal shop, and had a prototype mounting bracket made up in .032" aluminum. They were so easy to make, and the guy was using up some scrap pieces, so he ended up making 4 for me! Let me know if you have a use for the other three!
Oh, and yes, I did intend to add some diagonal supports under the bracket. This was just step one of the development plan.
Friday night I mounted the 195 mount to the bracket, and Saturday (after chores) I headed for the hanger. I mounted the bracket and mount to the angle on the top of the front seat back, put the seat back back (?) into the plane, and slid down into the back seat with the GPS 195.
Unfortunately, the 195 is very big, and is oriented such that there is barely enough room for it and me! OK, some of that is my love of food and beverage, but even a more svelte person would not be able to get a straight look at the screen.
So the backup plan is to make a new mount for a 296 and find a good used one. For the viewing enjoyment and the furtherance of everyone's education, here are some pictures of my 195 mounting bracket. I did not take one of it installed in the plane. At the time there did not seem any point, but take my word for it. The 195 is so long that it ends up under your chin!
![](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Finlinethumb17.webshots.com%2F42192%2F2853228030103240686S425x425Q85.jpg&hash=10d033aa37630bbb57fcb7d3d3c42885)
![](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Finlinethumb61.webshots.com%2F23420%2F2012619530103240686S425x425Q85.jpg&hash=5f82fb7c078fd10e7b7829c2dcbeadae)
![](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Finlinethumb50.webshots.com%2F9521%2F2370869100103240686S425x425Q85.jpg&hash=fc99d5c08de9c843b200631ef0eff1cb)
Well, I found out why to not do it, but had fun anyway. I designed something up in SolidWorks, took the flat pattern to a local sheet metal shop, and had a prototype mounting bracket made up in .032" aluminum. They were so easy to make, and the guy was using up some scrap pieces, so he ended up making 4 for me! Let me know if you have a use for the other three!
Oh, and yes, I did intend to add some diagonal supports under the bracket. This was just step one of the development plan.
Friday night I mounted the 195 mount to the bracket, and Saturday (after chores) I headed for the hanger. I mounted the bracket and mount to the angle on the top of the front seat back, put the seat back back (?) into the plane, and slid down into the back seat with the GPS 195.
Unfortunately, the 195 is very big, and is oriented such that there is barely enough room for it and me! OK, some of that is my love of food and beverage, but even a more svelte person would not be able to get a straight look at the screen.
So the backup plan is to make a new mount for a 296 and find a good used one. For the viewing enjoyment and the furtherance of everyone's education, here are some pictures of my 195 mounting bracket. I did not take one of it installed in the plane. At the time there did not seem any point, but take my word for it. The 195 is so long that it ends up under your chin!
![](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Finlinethumb17.webshots.com%2F42192%2F2853228030103240686S425x425Q85.jpg&hash=10d033aa37630bbb57fcb7d3d3c42885)
![](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Finlinethumb61.webshots.com%2F23420%2F2012619530103240686S425x425Q85.jpg&hash=5f82fb7c078fd10e7b7829c2dcbeadae)
![](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Finlinethumb50.webshots.com%2F9521%2F2370869100103240686S425x425Q85.jpg&hash=fc99d5c08de9c843b200631ef0eff1cb)