When I finished my plane, I was a little disappointed at the initial CG location, which came out at 108.64 (1695 empty). It would be very easy to find myself with the CG too far aft with four people onboard (or even 3 people and lots of bags). I wanted a plane that can haul 4 people and bags. To do that, the CG needed to move forward a good bit.
There's nothing too far out of the ordinary installed in the back of the plane: Odyssey 925 battery, autopilot pitch servo, ELT, strobe pack, and a 3 prong charging/jumper port. While I didn't weigh the plane prior to paint, I'm fairly certain that paint was a significant contributor to the aft CG condition (there's just a lot of paint/clear coat on the plane). Everything else is fairly stock on the plane (IO-540 with Hartzell CS prop) from a weight perspective.
At 25-ish pounds, the battery was the obvious way to attack the problem. For several weeks, I contemplated replacing the battery with a LiFePo battery. That would get me much closer to my target CG, but not quite. Besides, the cost of the LiFePo batteries are pretty steep.
I finally settled on removing the 925 and replacing it with a PC680 on the firewall. This moved my CG to 106.81 (and saved me 5 pounds).
I've been flying with this configuration for the last month or so, including OSH (where I ferried two of my neighbors and a boatload of bags). I'm much, much happier with the new CG location. Also, no problems with the smaller battery starting the engine (shorter wire run = less resistance), even on hot starts.
There's nothing too far out of the ordinary installed in the back of the plane: Odyssey 925 battery, autopilot pitch servo, ELT, strobe pack, and a 3 prong charging/jumper port. While I didn't weigh the plane prior to paint, I'm fairly certain that paint was a significant contributor to the aft CG condition (there's just a lot of paint/clear coat on the plane). Everything else is fairly stock on the plane (IO-540 with Hartzell CS prop) from a weight perspective.
At 25-ish pounds, the battery was the obvious way to attack the problem. For several weeks, I contemplated replacing the battery with a LiFePo battery. That would get me much closer to my target CG, but not quite. Besides, the cost of the LiFePo batteries are pretty steep.
I finally settled on removing the 925 and replacing it with a PC680 on the firewall. This moved my CG to 106.81 (and saved me 5 pounds).
I've been flying with this configuration for the last month or so, including OSH (where I ferried two of my neighbors and a boatload of bags). I'm much, much happier with the new CG location. Also, no problems with the smaller battery starting the engine (shorter wire run = less resistance), even on hot starts.