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Large dog in baggage area?

slk23

I'm New Here
I'm trying to determine if an RV-14 would work for me. One important mission would be cross country trips with my wife and 75-80# Golden Retriever. Would he fit comfortably in the 14's baggage area? From the specifications it appears that the dimensions are around 40" wide x 36" deep. I think he'd be able lie down in that space but I'd have to build a false floor to stash duffle bags, etc. under. The 100# weight limit is an issue but I suppose we could ship some stuff. Does making XC trips with a large dog sound like a practical plan or is it too much of a compromise? Is the RV-10 my only reasonable option in the Van's fleet?

TIA for your opinions.
 
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Early on we traveled with our 60 pound bulldog in the back of our -9. It was kind of a pain as we would have to remove the seat back to get him in there and then reinstall it.

After my son was born we stopped taking the dog and he rode back there until he out grew the baggage compartment. Now he and I fly together and mom stays home.

PS. Don't forget to but Mutt Muffs.
 
We take our German Shepard on many trips if it is not for too long (longer than 2.5 hours) and she is fine. She is a smaller shepherd but does not like getting in the plane as we leave but on the way back, she is happy to jump in to come home. We don?t remove seats, only fold it forward and she scoops thru with little problem.
 
Only you can answer your question - depends on how much other stuff you like to bring along, the size of your budget, etc. I have a -10, and an 80 lb Border Collie mix. He usually rides in the back seat when there's just one or two people, and usually stays home when there are 4 people. That's just how it works out. He can fit in the baggage area. If you and your dog would like to come over to LVK you're welcome to have your dog try it on for size. Could even go for a short flight, see how he does. However, I only have one pair of Mutt Muffs. And, due to indoctrination, Champ will insist on wearing them!
 
Only you can answer your question - depends on how much other stuff you like to bring along, the size of your budget, etc. I have a -10, and an 80 lb Border Collie mix. He usually rides in the back seat when there's just one or two people, and usually stays home when there are 4 people. That's just how it works out. He can fit in the baggage area. If you and your dog would like to come over to LVK you're welcome to have your dog try it on for size. Could even go for a short flight, see how he does. However, I only have one pair of Mutt Muffs. And, due to indoctrination, Champ will insist on wearing them!

This is really the only reason I'm building a -10 vs -14. Even with the slightly larger area, it is still pretty much a choice of baggage or dog. Day trips are fine, overnights not so much.
D084405B-C901-4A5C-BE4A-B19F56BAA588.jpg
 
You can't hide the money when you are spending an extra $30,000-$50,000 just to be able to bring the dog! :p. You put the dog in a kennel many times for that much money.
 
Dogs

I think the bigger issue would be picking him up and putting him in there. Big dogs have claws and they will scratch up the interior. We lost our golden last summer and replaced her with a smaller version, 10# dog. So she will not be an issue to bring along. Have to get those muffs though.
 
You can't hide the money when you are spending an extra $30,000-$50,000 just to be able to bring the dog! :p. You put the dog in a kennel many times for that much money.

No kids, you know... Saying the only reason was probably inaccurate, but certainly the predominant reason;)
 
This brings up a question I have had. Why the 100lb limit? With the same amount of ribs and rib spacing I assume it isn't a floor load issue.
 
Our Glasair Sportsman build was started by a couple who were heavily involved in canine agility. It was the only kit-built airplane they could find that would reasonably accommodate two fairly large dog crates.

Now that we're continuing the build, my wife has seized upon the massive size of the cargo area, and its 300lb capacity. She believes the Sportsman is the ultimate machine to use for chauffeured shopping trips. Ugh! (just kidding - happy wife = happy life)
 
My 60 pound Aussie Shep fits in the -7 just fine, but like Bill said... it is a nuisance getting him back there as I need to remove the pax seat as he won't slide back there on his own.

KSBT%20flyin%2009.jpg


The -14 should be fine for an 80 lb. golden. I would go for it!

:cool: CJ
 
This brings up a question I have had. Why the 100lb limit? With the same amount of ribs and rib spacing I assume it isn't a floor load issue.

Even stranger is that this change happened with no notice. While Vans' web site says "100 lbs" in baggage area, it used to say "150 lbs", and the paperwork that came with my -10 says "150 lbs". I wonder if Vans is just concerned with cg.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I love the pictures!

I think I need to see a -14 and -10 in person. Bob, thank you for the offer; I'll send you a PM.

Here's my GR trying out the back of my Vari-Eze. Clearly he didn't find it comfortable!

IMG_5114.2014-10-08_235350.JPG
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I love the pictures!

I think I need to see a -14 and -10 in person. Bob, thank you for the offer; I'll send you a PM.

Here's my GR trying out the back of my Vari-Eze. Clearly he didn't find it comfortable!

IMG_5114.2014-10-08_235350.JPG

I love this photo. I love dogs and I love my RV but 100# Dobie ain't going to fit ,no way, I tried , put a mat on the wing got up there with him, lifted him up tried to cramp him in but the paws came out and he was like no way dude I ain't gettin in there.i would need a turit in The canopy for his head cause he sits about 8 inches taller than me.
 
Golden in the back seat??

I figured anyone who owned a GR would know they ride in the FRONT seat or not at all. Mine wouldn't go up a flight of stairs, let alone go for a flight. Does anyone make an EFIS that is nose-print resistant?

Sorry for digressing...
 
I know this is an old thread, but I have a very similar situation/related question and figured it was best to just add on to good information with any newer experiences over the past 5 years.

I've got 2x 40-50lb dogs. Based on the measurements in the brochure, the baggage area is roughly slightly smaller than my old Mini Cooper, which they spent a lot of time in, so I'm not worried about size (though the comments about difficulties getting them in and out are good to be aware of). I had been hoping that I'd be able to put some bags flat-packed underneath them under a blanket, until I realized that the baggage area was limited to 100lbs (instead of 150..I think I must have seen some old literature at some point).

So from people who've built and been flying the -14, is the 100 lbs a hard limit due to structural limitations, or is it a soft limit because it's hard to fit more than 100 lbs within the CG envelope? I wouldn't want to mess with a structural limit, but I'd be willing to play with ballast and give up a little useful load as needed, if that were an option. And I'm exclusively looking at the tailwheel -14, not the -14A.

The general uses would be:
  1. Me (~200# incl bags), alone, going 100 NM to my glider club grass strip and back
  2. Me, alone, catching up to and leaving early from my fianc? and the dogs on summer vacations (she's a teacher and I work 9-5...) up to ~600 NM each way
  3. Me, the fianc?, and the dogs (all in with bags and food ~550#) doing some airplane camping or visiting family ~300 NM away
  4. Fun stuff, like $100 hamburgers and "gentleman's aerobatics" (I'm friends with an aerobatics instructor)
And no need to upgrade for kids in the future. I'm actually looking at a 170B with an upgraded engine for all this (minus aerobatics), but the fianc? has been doing and enjoying a lot of construction around the house the last few months and thinks building an RV would be an awesome project to do together. That's a level of approval I have to follow-up on!
 
#3 requires a -10. #4 requires the -14.
BTW, not sure how hard it is to load dogs in a TW. In the -10, I could put a rug on the wing, help the 80 lb dog up onto the wing. From there he?d find his own way into the back seat, if I had first folded the front seat forward.
 
I'm trying to determine if an RV-14 would work for me. One important mission would be cross country trips with my wife and 75-80# Golden Retriever. Would he fit comfortably in the 14's baggage area? From the specifications it appears that the dimensions are around 40" wide x 36" deep. I think he'd be able lie down in that space but I'd have to build a false floor to stash duffle bags, etc. under. The 100# weight limit is an issue but I suppose we could ship some stuff. Does making XC trips with a large dog sound like a practical plan or is it too much of a compromise? Is the RV-10 my only reasonable option in the Van's fleet?

TIA for your opinions.

The baggage area is large enough for me to crawl around in no problem. Van's shows the area as 12+ft^3. You're in Oakland and I'm building a 14 at OAK if you want to come check it out. PM me.
 
The general uses would be:
  1. Me (~200# incl bags), alone, going 100 NM to my glider club grass strip and back
  2. Me, alone, catching up to and leaving early from my fianc? and the dogs on summer vacations (she's a teacher and I work 9-5...) up to ~600 NM each way
  3. Me, the fianc?, and the dogs (all in with bags and food ~550#) doing some airplane camping or visiting family ~300 NM away
  4. Fun stuff, like $100 hamburgers and "gentleman's aerobatics" (I'm friends with an aerobatics instructor)

For #3, if the company demonstrator was used as an example (and it is pretty basic as far as interior goes so slightly lighter than most), you would be about 50 lbs over recommended max. gross weight with full fuel.
You could leave off some fuel but would then likely be exceeding the aft C.G. limit after a 300 mile trip because a lot of your payload weight would be in the baggage area which has a recommended max limit of 100 lbs because of structural design.
 
For #3, if the company demonstrator was used as an example (and it is pretty basic as far as interior goes so slightly lighter than most), you would be about 50 lbs over recommended max. gross weight with full fuel.
You could leave off some fuel but would then likely be exceeding the aft C.G. limit after a 300 mile trip because a lot of your payload weight would be in the baggage area which has a recommended max limit of 100 lbs because of structural design.

Exactly what I was looking for, thank you!

jnmeade - Definitely don't want that to happen... They're getting seat belted (or otherwise restrained via their crash safety harnesses) where they can't reach any controls, regardless of what plane they're in.
 
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