Hello,
This is my first post - I live in Novi, Michigan, close to Detroit. My wife and I own a 0-300 powered 1966 Cessna 172. As we like to travel, we want to upgrade to a faster plane.
Intitially, we thought about getting a 182 or maybe an older Bonanza until another member of our EAA chapter showed us his RV-9A and offered a ride. While we both always liked the looks of RVs, none of us ever even sat in one. OK, now we want one.
Except of that we could not take our bikes with us, a RV-7A would fit our mission perfectly, I could even do some light aerobatics with it. We also thought that a half-finished kit would be a great option, as I always wanted to build, but as I am afraid that I would not have the endurance to work on the project for 3 or 4 years.
Well, the more I investigate RV-7As, the clearer is becomes that we would most likely face W&B issues. My wife and I weigh, including clothes, headsets, a survival kit, something to drink, phones, etc. 400 lbs.. Based on the weight numbers, here in this forum, most finished planes seem to be around the max. empty weight Vans mentions on their website of 1,130 lbs..
This would leave us with an useful load of 670 lbs.. Minus our weight and full tanks (42 * 6 = 252 lbs.) we would have only 18 lbs. left for baggage.
It also appears as whether the CG tends to be very far aft. It actually seems to be so far aft, that reducing weight on the prop, the avionics or the crew and to instead put more baggage in the baggage compartment, would easily cause the CG to get out of the envelope.
I am now wondering, whether my concerns regarding the far aft CG are valid, whether something can be done about it and how much weight we could save with a fixed pitch instead of a CS prop? What else makes the planes heavy, besides of avionics?
Oliver
This is my first post - I live in Novi, Michigan, close to Detroit. My wife and I own a 0-300 powered 1966 Cessna 172. As we like to travel, we want to upgrade to a faster plane.
Intitially, we thought about getting a 182 or maybe an older Bonanza until another member of our EAA chapter showed us his RV-9A and offered a ride. While we both always liked the looks of RVs, none of us ever even sat in one. OK, now we want one.
Except of that we could not take our bikes with us, a RV-7A would fit our mission perfectly, I could even do some light aerobatics with it. We also thought that a half-finished kit would be a great option, as I always wanted to build, but as I am afraid that I would not have the endurance to work on the project for 3 or 4 years.
Well, the more I investigate RV-7As, the clearer is becomes that we would most likely face W&B issues. My wife and I weigh, including clothes, headsets, a survival kit, something to drink, phones, etc. 400 lbs.. Based on the weight numbers, here in this forum, most finished planes seem to be around the max. empty weight Vans mentions on their website of 1,130 lbs..
This would leave us with an useful load of 670 lbs.. Minus our weight and full tanks (42 * 6 = 252 lbs.) we would have only 18 lbs. left for baggage.
It also appears as whether the CG tends to be very far aft. It actually seems to be so far aft, that reducing weight on the prop, the avionics or the crew and to instead put more baggage in the baggage compartment, would easily cause the CG to get out of the envelope.
I am now wondering, whether my concerns regarding the far aft CG are valid, whether something can be done about it and how much weight we could save with a fixed pitch instead of a CS prop? What else makes the planes heavy, besides of avionics?
Oliver