Shedding the weight

[crbnunit]

Now is definitely the time! These are among the items on my regret list that weren't done while I had mine apart. Add extended baggage with a ski/rod holder while you have access. Weld handles near the tail (really helps when trying to lift the tail or pull the tail when stuck in the snow. If you don't have them, add the patrol tanks in the wings! And yes, get your wiring sorted out. Consider adding a blank "pull wire" for later mods... Skylight?

[1:1 Scale]

Tail handles would be an easy add. The fuselage has been at the welder for a couple of months, so I really want to get it wrapped up. No skylight. It would be nice, but not in the time/money budget, and I thought I saw somewhere that they added weight? Have the aux tanks already, replaced the transfer pumps.

Extended baggage has certainly crossed my mind, just a matter of the best way to go about it. Ideally, I'd get a DER involved and move everything half a station back, but I really want to get the reassembly process started, so I may just do like someone else did and put a box in that's held in place with adel clamps. So far, I've never NEEDED more space, but it can't hurt to have it...

[stick_rudder]

My thoughts on the extended baggage;

When I did my rebuild a few years ago I went with a modular system approximately 18â€￾h, 32â€￾L and 11â€￾w. Held in place with adel clamps. Has an extension out the back of it for fishing poles. I went with 032â€￾ for the whole thing which was overkill. Totally weight including all hardware ended up around 8lbs.

I love my extended baggage and have used it a lot for the trips I do. I routinely bulk out the cabin compartment so the extra space is a requirement for me. Fishing poles in an airplane are my nemesis! Needless to say, the fishing pole extension has been well appreciated and used too.

All of this to say....when carbon concepts gets the belly pod finished up I will remove the extended baggage in favor of the pod. Might put a fishing rod holding back there. Can’t remember off the top of my head but I believe the belly pod will weight less than 10lbs, so it will be a much bigger compartment for the same weight of the extended baggage I currently use.

For what it’s worth, my CG is very far forward when empty so having the extended baggage has not been an issue for my CG wise. Though for owners with a further aft CG, the belly pod will keep the CG forward with all the extra goodies packed in there!

[crbnunit]

I've seen his extended baggage compartment. It is pretty slick. No modifications reacquired and a pretty elegant design. 10# belly pod sounds pretty good as well. Especially If I can carry extra fuel!

[1:1 Scale]

When I did my rebuild a few years ago I went with a modular system approximately 18â€￾h, 32â€￾L and 11â€￾w. Held in place with adel clamps. Has an extension out the back of it for fishing poles. I went with 032â€￾ for the whole thing which was overkill. Totally weight including all hardware ended up around 8lbs.

For what it’s worth, my CG is very far forward when empty so having the extended baggage has not been an issue for my CG wise. Though for owners with a further aft CG, the belly pod will keep the CG forward with all the extra goodies packed in there!

Yes, your's is the one I'm thinking of. Right now, I'm focused on pulling weight out wherever I can, and I think my CG is going to move forward, just not sure how much exactly until the plane is weighed. The idea of doing a modular compartment like yours, even if just to hold a crash/survival bag to help move the CG back, has crossed my mind.