Tip Up Rear Window Mod Possibility??

[Tom Maxwell]

I like the visibility of the tip-up canopy but I wonder about loading and unloading the cargo area.

First question, how much of an issue is loading and loading luggage in a 7A?

Second question, has anyone considered making the rear window in a tip up uhhhh tippable so it can swing up to allow easy access to the luggage area. I am confident that I am over simplifying it but it seams to me the back could be easily hinged like the front with a locking mechanism to keep it in place during flight.

 

[Martin Sutter]

Loading baggage in to the hold of a tip-up RV7A is indeed somewhat of a struggle because the small opening between the seats and the rollbar and the awkward stance while standing on the tall wing surface. Pulling the seat backs forward does not work well with most seat cushions because the back rest pushes the seat bottom cushion forward against the control stick. We pack our stuff in to smallish soft sided bags that are not too heavy and fit thru the opening without squeezing.

Tom Green of Van's built a set of gull wing doors for his personal RV6 tip-up. He did not use the back glass and made them from sheet aluminum. There is an RV7A built in Bremerton, WA. with a set of gull wing baggage doors. That aircraft will be ready to fly in a month or two. I have not seen it but am told the doors came out nice. He used the back glass and cut it in half down the spine. Then he installed the glass halves in a frame that coveres the area from the main longeron on the bottom to the longitudenal hinge on top and from the baggage wall in the rear to the roll bar in the front. I thought about doing the same but had already installed the back glass and was too eager to get in the air to takle that project. Right now I am too busy fliing the plane and going places with it to take it down for a major change like that but will probably revisit that idea at a later date.

Martin Sutter
building and flying RV's since 1988