Packing for a trip

So I was wondering, how much luggage can you fit in a 6/6a? If my wife and I want to take a trip can a suitcase fit behind the seat? They seems so small back there and not to mention the canopy over the baggage area. I dont own an RV yet but I hope to in the near future, so im just curious at the moment.

Simtech said:

So I was wondering, how much luggage can you fit in a 6/6a? If my wife and I want to take a trip can a suitcase fit behind the seat? They seems so small back there and not to mention the canopy over the baggage area. I dont own an RV yet but I hope to in the near future, so im just curious at the moment.

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There is substantial variability in the answer to this question. You have to consider the individual airplane's useful load and CG. In my airplane (a fairly standard RV-6 with a wood prop), up to 70 lbs of baggage allows me to run the fuel down to 5-8 gallons before the CG moves too far aft. More baggage than that and I have to land with 10-15 gallons of fuel onboard. I can put more stuff in the footwells if necessary, but then your movement is restricted.

As far as suitcases go, hard suitcases are doable, but soft side luggage (duffels are ideal) is much easier and the cubic space behind the seats is much bigger than you think.

Perhaps slightly easier to load baggage with a tip up canopy than slider but no big deal either way. You can easily tip the back of the seat forward to allow a little more room for loading up with a slider. I wouldn't be concerned much about baggage capacity - it's plenty really unless you are determined to take bikes, skis, surfboards etc.

Packing

These are great for getting your clothes more densely packed and work well in soft sided luggage.

http://shop.eaglecreek.com/packit-garment-folder-small/d/1326



Also sold at the Samsonite mall stores.

I don't know how to post photos on here, but my twins took my 6-A for a two week rock climbing trip and packed more stuff into it than I could have ever believed - All of their climbing gear, a large crash pad, two long skate boards boards, slack line, all their food and camping gear, etc, ect, ect. Somewhere I have a photo of it all stacked on a scale (which was a feat all on it's own).

My wife and I have no problem fitting our stuff, but you also get very good at packing light and FAST: "Hey it is sunny today, lets go to XYZ for the weekend. You pack and I will go get the plane out."

Here's our RV-6A plane 'unloaded' after our one-month-long 2013 Caribbean Trip.

From left rear: Big blue bag is snacks, backpacks for clothes, small red bag is Scuba 'stuff' and big red bag is all my Scuba gear. Black bags are tools, rags, ropes, bicycle pump, hammer, and spare alternator (with oil on top).

From left front: Side-by-side white/blue bags are souveniers, survival gear, Blue Curaçao liquor, and gray canopy cover. Next to the three rebar stakes are the sticks I used for chalks since somebody stole my nice aluminum ones in Grenada. Lastly, I always carry a cardboard tube on every trip to bring home posters.

For our plane I've learned that if I can fit it, I can take it Rosie

Rosie posted a much more informative photo, but i'll add that my wife and I have carried everything we'd need for a camping trip back there... Including a cooler, tent, sleeping bags, clothing, etc. We were packed right to the canopy rails, about 70 lb of baggage total. Another 20 lb went in bags forward of the spar under our knees... There's a lot of space in the -6 when you choose your packing arrangement carefully.

As mentioned, cg is your biggest limiting factor. One advantage of a CS HartZell and IO360 in a 6 is your forward cg, compared to fixed o320's.
I grossed up to 1650 so I can carry me, wife, full fuel and 100# in the baggage area and be right at gross. I can operate at any fuel loading and still be well within cg limits.
It doesn't matter if we are going for two days or two weeks, it always seems we need #100 worth of stuff. Oh, and gas for my wife's hair dryer.

I had my -6 loaded down similarly to Rosie's picture for my recent Johnson Creek trip. Volume isn't so much the issue, but total weight can be, especially if you've only got an O-320 and are heading for the mountains. I was solo, and so could carry quite a bit more stuff. You just have to be careful with the W&B and CG and don't put too many heavy items in the back especially if you've got a wood or composite prop and an O-320.

When I go to Oshkosh, I'll have the plane loaded like a flying pickup truck, just barely under max gross and mindful of the CG envelope aft limits when the fuel tanks get low.

Thanks for the replies. I'm impressed with how much can be packed in an RV! It just seemed so small in the back. And as far as the CG issues go I can see that. Just last week in my buddies RV we were both standing on the wings and the planes tipped back on the rear tie down. So I was wondering how luggage might affect aft CG.

And an RV flight to the Caribbean!! Nice!! I just need to find me an RV now!!!