Before weighing, neighbor Mike (A&P, ace auto/airplane painter & restorer)
guessed 846 lbs. Silly guy. Neighbor John (ex-UA pilot, Harmon Rocket
builder) guessed 914 lb. Boo! I worked up from 812 lbs., a number someone
had with a bungee gear, Rotax powered Rebel (Jim C.?) and worked my way up
with additions, etc., and came up with 877, my official guess. I also said
if it was 900 lbs. or under I'd be happy. So... the envelope please:
Empty weight = 901 lbs.
Empty CG = 10.85" aft leading edge - with main wheels @ -0.5" arm (spring
gear with 8.00x6.00 tires)
So John won, and because it's a whole pound over where I said I'd be
happy... I'm totally devasted!! Just kidding. Actually, over and over I made
choices to do mods, add equipment or beef things up, and don't regret any of
them.
For apples to oranges comparisons, following are *some* of the things that
may be of interest, and might (mostly) add weight compared to a fairly light
Rotax-powered Rebel, and some (mostly) very rough estimates of the *exchange
weights*. Most numbers below are just guesses, both as to weight and
comparison, of course, so there's no point in arguing the specifics, at
least not with me! :-) Weight savings (negative numbers) are in parentheses,
and
items were either comparison weighed or otherwise known to be prettyaccurate:
Jabiru 3300 with muffler, starter, air/carb heat box, NACA vent - 30 lbs.
Spring gear -- estimates vary from 11-20 lbs. exchange weight
FUS30 - doubler, epoxy, etc. - 2 lbs.
FUS 29 - beefed up
Iron Design 8" pneumatic tailwheel and modified Champ leaf spring - 5 lbs.*
Overhead seat belt attach - 1.5 lbs.
Electric flaperon actuator, controller, wiring and switching - (1 lb.)*
Strobe system (single power pack and cables) - 9 lbs.*
B&C 20S second alternator, regulator, filter & wiring - 10 lbs.*
Heated pitot - 1 lb.
Thicker windows and lower door half window - 3.2 lbs.*
AeroCarb instead of Bing - (2 lbs.)
8.00 x 6.00 wheels and Carlisle Turf Glide tires -- ?
SL40 COM2, antenna and coax - 4 lbs.
Elaborate glass panel, dual EFIS/AHRS/magnetometers/OAT's, Mode S XPNDR, XM
WX, etc. -- (most of which is pretty light, maybe a savings)
PC680 battery - 3 lbs.
Four rudder cable pulleys & mounts - 1.5 lbs.
Three bay tanks - ea. with > 23 gal. usable BTW
Carpeted baggage wall/bulkhead w/XC ski port <g>
Various other fuse & wing reinforcements by orig. builder - 5-6 lbs.
Adel clamps under the cowl - huge
Miles of wire, 3-bus electrical design, lotsa switches - humongous
Electrical sleeving and heat shrink throughout - 200 lbs. ;-)
In addition, several items not yet bolted down were taped in place,
including door latch handle/locks, fire extinguisher, interior lights, A/P
servos, etc. Of course, the above doesn't necessarily equal the difference
between 812 and 901 lbs. Things not included are paint (tips & cowl are
painted, all mating surfaces and several others are primed, etc.), strut
fairings, skylights (eyebrows are in) and side windows. I may not paint the
fuse except for some color trim over polish & Ever Brite (0.1 lbs. per 100
sq. ft.) ala' Luscombe's -- no decision on that yet.
Personally, I'm happy with the 901 lbs., which will still leave room for
most of what I want to do, even within the LSA-mandated GW of 1320 lbs.
Furthermore, when you see all the camping gear come out of the back at
Oshkosh next year, just remember it may not look like it, but any and all
hard equipment you see will be made of hollowed out thin wall titanium!
;-) More importantly, I'm proud of the plane, as any builder should be, and
it will be a gas to fly.
Ron
254R
PS - I may not have time to respond to comments or questions, if any,
because I'm on the last kick to the (flyable) finish line here, and this
ain't no time to take the foot off the gas. [Ed.: mixed metaphors, again!]
PS2 - Incidentally, the Sensenich 68x38 composite covered wood prop (11
lbs.) produced a static RPM = 2820, which is right at the sweet spot for the
Jabiru 3300. Yay! Performance at cruise remains to be seen, of course.
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