WHAT DOES YOUR 6 OR 7 WEIGH

WHAT DOES YOUR 6 OR 7 WEIGH?
Please list motor and prop.

1. How much trim do you use on landing?
2. How does it measure? 1/4 inch tab up or down? etc.
3. Can you take off, fly at 60% power and land without any trim input?
And still have a trimmed aircraft?

If you have a 0320 with wood prop and E glass cowl, what is your max baggage without busting aft cg?


Warren
8:20p PDT

Warren:

One of the best places to compare RV weight and balance numbers is: http://www.rvproject.com/wab/

There are over 150 different flying RVs.

Took a look...

RV6_flyer said:

Warren:

One of the best places to compare RV weight and balance numbers is: http://www.rvproject.com/wab/

There are over 150 different flying RVs.

Click to expand...

What I found....

6A 320 fp 1001#. Max gross 1650

6A 360 cs 1189#. Max gross 2000 WOW! Van would hate that!
Acro with 6 gal fuel and pilot of 125 pounds!!!

So which one is more fun to fly? Doesn't your plane feal great solo and low on fuel?

Hi Warren,

My RV6 came in at 1024 pounds, complete and ready to fly but no fuel.
Lycoming O-320, Sensenich FP metal prop, taildragger, heavy polyester cowl, nav lights, lined interior.
Sometimes I don't bother trimming for landing, but if I do I generally need to use nearly all of the trim available, up from memory, which is about an inch at the tab.
I haven't tried taking off, flying and landing to see if it is trimmed in all phases, but I doubt it.

Martin in Oz

gasman said:

6A 360 cs 1189#. Max gross 2000 WOW! Van would hate that!
Acro with 6 gal fuel and pilot of 125 pounds!!!

Click to expand...

The pilot loved it. Then built an even fatter one.
Poor Van.

'nuther...

6A
1065#
180 FP Catto 3 blade.
Don't usually trim for landing.
Never took off with 60% power (Who wants to do that, why?)

If the airplane is trimmed in cruise, the nose will fall with power reduction and won't stay trimmed. You can trim if you like but it gets a little heavier with full flaps.

Regards,

RV-6, O-320, Catto 3-Blade, 1028# with paint.

Amazing how RVs have "fattened up". The last three -7As I have inspected weigh OVER 1150# each without paint. You guys have no idea what you are missing.
Knock 150# off that airplane and it will fly twice as good.

Yes

Mel said:

Knock 150# off that airplane and it will fly twice as good.

Click to expand...

Amen to that, Mel.....I had a guy come down from Atl last week to try on a light, nimble 6,

RV6 vs rv7 weight

To provide input on the original question of this thread:
RV-6, O-360A1A, 180 hp, Hartzell CS, 1080 lbs, full up trim for landing

Now regarding weight comparisons of RV-7's and RV-7A's to RV-6's and RV-6A's. From Van's web site, I come up with the RV-7 is 96 lbs heavier than the RV-6 and the RV-7A is 92 lbs heavier than the RV-6A. So the 7's are heavier to begin with. Does this sound right? Van's list the range of weights for a 7A as 1077 to 1130.

Here is a post I made in 2005

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=784&postcount=19

It is a little dated and not as nice as Dan's web based data base, but it is accurate and shows the tends.

One thing that is hard to nail down is paint and upholstery, but in general any side by side (RV-6, RV-6A, RV-7, RV-7A) that is near 1000 lbs you are doing well. (Nice Job Mel, You are the man).

The big big variable or driver is the Engine and Prop. A O320 with wood prop is going to give you a light plane.

A RV-7 with a O320/Wood prop is not really a good combo with the tail heavy set up. That combo will limit baggage significantly with out nose ballast. Of course the trend is for bigger (heaver) engines and constant speed props.

The RV-6 is weight limited, with lower gross and acro weight than the RV-7(A). The RV-6 is also not as tolerant as heavy engine/props as the RV-7(A) and loves a O320/Wood prop.

If you ever fly a stripped down (weight wise) RV-4 or RV-6 you will know the joy of light weight.

gmcjetpilot said:

A RV-7 with a O320/Wood prop is not really a good combo with the tail heavy set up. That combo will limit baggage significantly with out nose ballast. Of course the trend is for bigger (heaver) engines and constant speed props.

If you ever fly a stripped down (weight wise) RV-4 or RV-6 you will know the joy of light weight.

Click to expand...

George, is this correct? If you said -7A I would agree with you 100% but I'm not sure that is true for the -7. I don't really know but I do know the A's tend to be more tail heavy than the TW versions.

Your comment about keeping it light, I couldn't agree with you more.

A tank

My RV-6 is a tank! It weighed in at 1,112 lbs. BEFORE many coats of paint, sound proofing to the interior, extra radios, CD player, GPS's, a heavy counterweighted crank, heavy connecting rods for the crank, lower glass mod, bigger oil cooler, added glass slider to rear of canopy, etc. It's a TANK now, but I only weigh around 145 lbs. so I'll live with it.