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RV8 or RV4...want to buy an RV8

RV4 or RV8 or RV7

  • VANS RV4

    Votes: 7 10.9%
  • VANS RV8

    Votes: 50 78.1%
  • VANS RV7

    Votes: 7 10.9%

  • Total voters
    64

giles1206

Member
Gentlemen! Experience is key & knowledge is king, & some of you may have both so please help me make this decision as I have neither!

We are looking for a fun, fast, aerobatic with 2 up with half an hour fuel at least. We are not the smallest animals weighing in at 100kg each!

So I put it to you, what is it I need to buy? An RV4 or RV8? Prefer the tandem arrangement over side by side however not adverse to being told otherwise. Can you please all help me make a decision to which model path I should go down.

If anyone hears or knows of any good strong well built VANS RV4 or RV8 around for sale with 180 - 200+ hp IO-360+ engine with full inverted fuel & oil system & CS prop & preferable with full dual controls with instruments in the rear cockpit as well. That would be greatly appreciated. I want to buy an RV as soon as possible. Please help me & please help me find a good one.

Thank you for your help on this one! It's who you know not what you know!

Animal:eek:
 
If you want two-up acro then go with the -8.

An RV-4 with a -360, constant speed prop and inverted oil is going to be heavy. I've seen it done but it takes the -4 far away from its design point.

Go to the Van's pages and record the gross weights and acro weights of the planes. Then figure in your additional weights of two up, the CS prop, the inverted oil, parachutes and gas.

See what you get.
 
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I've owned both. What you need is the RV-8. The -4 is much better for aerobatics but with 2 heavy people it's not recommended.
 
You would be well advised to stick to Van's weight and CG recommendations for aerobatics especially.

Aero gross is 1350lb for the -4 and 1600lb for the -8. Even accounting for the -8 being typically 100lb heavier than a -4, that still gives it an extra 150lb of aerobatic payload. The largest passenger that I've rotated about all axes in the -4 was a 10 year old as a birthday treat. With the -8 it stayed in limits with a 180 lb passenger.

A typical passenger will also put the -4 behind the aft CG acro limit and make it very light in pitch and easy to over stress in a pull-up, especially in less experienced hands.
 
I'm far from a gentleman, but voted anyhow. ;) We owned an -8 and it's quite roomy in the back. A 220 pounder (100 kilogrammer?) won't fit in the back of the -4, especially for acro.
 
Sure!

An 8 or an 8 or an 8 or so on. The 8 will take two 200 pounders and do some aero, when loaded properly. It has two good baggage compartments 50 Lbs. in front and 75 Lbs. in the back. It will take 42 Gal. of fuel with standard tanks.
If you get a nice lite one with the empty C.G. as close to the front as you can, you can load well over 750 Lbs. of useful and stay in C.G. and weight for C.X. trips "not aero", ours can load 792 Lbs. useful. For that you need to understand how much weight and where the aft limits of the C.G. are, but yes at under 1550 with the older wings and 1600 Lbs. with the new wings and careful C.G. loading you can do this with in reason. For what you are asking the 8 would be a better fit for your needs.
Hope this helps, Yours, R.E.A. III #80888
 
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Weight

Hi

As the others have said forget the 4 even though it's th best flyer of all three because it cannot carry the weight for aerobatics you are looking for.

Then is a choice of SBS or tandem seating, it's your choice.
 
Thanks

Re: Aerobatic Gross Weight for the RV-8/8A. Just to be accurate, "1600" above should be "1550" (early wings), and "1650" above should be "1600" (Dash One wings).

The Maximum Gross Weight for both wing variants is the same at 1800 pounds.

Thanks Carl, You are right on the money. R.E.A. III
 
Thanks for all the great replies & information supplied. Would a RV8 Fastback still be the same for weights etc.?

Does anyone know of a good RV8?
 
Ive got one for sale, but it' probably not what you want. If you find one with everything you were asking for, it's going to be in the $100,000 and up price range. Also, most people aren't willing to take one apart to ship it to the UK. I shipped a RV-4 to Germany last year and its a big job.
 
You should also consider that every variation from a completely stock, plans built RV would have to be approved by the LAA before you would be granted a permit to fly.
A Showplanes fastback shouldn't be much of a problem.

Sourcing one already approved in the UK avoids that problem, but you may need to be patient waiting for the right one to come to market. A couple of HR2 Rockets have been successfully imported.

I wouldn't worry too much about full controls in the back as you are unlikely to find an instructor willing to take off and land from the back seat and for most other purposes the back seat throttle and stick is sufficient.

And with 2*100kg occupants doing aerobatics, you need to keep it light. Full inverted fuel and oil is only really necessary for sustained inverted and most stuff can be done with no inverted systems or no more than a "half Raven" system to hang on to the oil.
 
Ive got one for sale, but it' probably not what you want. If you find one with everything you were asking for, it's going to be in the $100,000 and up price range. Also, most people aren't willing to take one apart to ship it to the UK. I shipped a RV-4 to Germany last year and its a big job.

Hi, i have engineers who can handle all our pre purchase inspections & dismantling / packing / rigging into containers. That is all down to the buyer & I am aware of this. Shouldn't put any sellers off dealing with overseas buyers, money is money.
 
We went through a broker and the transaction went smoothly. we had payment in full before the plane was dismantled for shipping. Germany allows the plane to keep its N-number and US registration. Im not sure how that works in the UK.
 
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