Separate baggage compartment

[65eTurbo]

Anyone ever thought of doing a separate baggage compartment in the tailcone?

Putting w and b aside, I have a short body with a lasar stc that moves the back seat rearward 10 inches.  It leaves me with little baggage space.  I've read of extended baggage mods but that requires cutting the bulkhead, sealing, etc.  It occured to me that there is already the battery access door. Why not build a box above the battery with a door latch and create a baggage compartment under field approval?  Even an E could relocate the battery up front for balance.

Thoughts?

[GDGR]

Moment on my battery is set at 110.8. The Battery door is roughly 19.5" wide. That puts your average Moment at roughly 121.1".  Not including weight of the box you're suggesting to build, it wouldn't take much to throw you out of the envelope. 

[Bob_Belville]

Boy, I would be skeptical that you could stay within the W&B rear limit of 49". What does yours look like with passengers in the rear seat? My rear seat arm is 70.7" so is yours 80.7"? 

I am planning my KOSH trip right now. (Love the Fly Garmin app.) 2 people in front seats totaling 345#. 23.4# of stuff in the rear seats - no passengers. Baggage, supplies and camping equipment totaling 93#, full fuel 385#. Gross is 2535 (vs. 2575 limit) and arm is 48.4" (vs. 49" limit). If I put a 170 person in the rear seat and remove 130# of fuel I would be at 2575 and 50".  

[MB65E]

Several mods have extended the hat shelf back a bulkhead. That wouldn’t be too bad and you could fit skis or snowboards.  I wouldn’t want to put more than a back pack in weight on my avionics rack. 

-Matt

[Jim Peace]

2 hours ago, 65eTurbo said:

I have a short body with a lasar stc that moves the back seat rearward 10 inches. 

I have never heard of that....can it be moved back just 5 inches,?  that is all it would take to make it tolerable for the pax and still leave good baggage space

[Bob_Belville]

8 minutes ago, Jim Peace said:

I have never heard of that....can it be moved back just 5 inches,?  that is all it would take to make it tolerable for the pax and still leave good baggage space

This whole thread is confusing. There's a spar there! The F model moves the firewall forward 5" to get the rear seat legroom, the rear seat doesn't move. ICBWBIDTS

 

[65eTurbo]

2 hours ago, MB65E said:

Several mods have extended the hat shelf back a bulkhead. That wouldn’t be too bad and you could fit skis or snowboards.  I wouldn’t want to put more than a back pack in weight on my avionics rack. 

-Matt

Any STCs for that you can refer me to?

[Hector]

I have never heard of that....can it be moved back just 5 inches,?  that is all it would take to make it tolerable for the pax and still leave good baggage space

Never heard of this either!! Agree, even 5 inches would be great.


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[Bob_Belville]

21 minutes ago, Hector said:

 

Never heard of this either!! Agree, even 5 inches would be great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Kick the front panel of the rear seat to see if you think it could be moved back 1". Better slip on your steel toed boots first. 

[N6018Q]

34 minutes ago, 65eTurbo said:

Any STCs for that you can refer me to?

 

[RLCarter]

If I moved the rear seat back 10” (1st I’ve heard of this) on my E the baggage compartment would more like a file folder

[65eTurbo]

4 hours ago, 65eTurbo said:

Anyone ever thought of doing a separate baggage compartment in the tailcone?

Putting w and b aside, I have a short body with a lasar stc that moves the back seat rearward 10 inches.  It leaves me with little baggage space.  I've read of extended baggage mods but that requires cutting the bulkhead, sealing, etc.  It occured to me that there is already the battery access door. Why not build a box above the battery with a door latch and create a baggage compartment under field approval?  Even an E could relocate the battery up front for balance.

Thoughts?

Toe room arms on front seats and back seat relocation and flip fold mod from LASAR about a decade ago.  I can sit back there comfortably.

[Shadrach]

29 minutes ago, 65eTurbo said:

Toe room arms on front seats and back seat relocation and flip fold mod from LASAR about a decade ago.  I can sit back there comfortably.

A picture is worth a 1000 posts from folks opining about something with which they are unfamiliar and don't understand!

[65eTurbo]

Now that I think of it, why not extend the hat rack back a station and drop the bottom down a foot with a honeycomb floor?  Then, a slide down door on the front  for crashworthiness.  Also, relocate the battery to the C location for CG.

[65eTurbo]

4 hours ago, Jim Peace said:

I have never heard of that....can it be moved back just 5 inches,?  that is all it would take to make it tolerable for the pax and still leave good baggage space

 Check out the pictures.

[Jim Peace]

I sent an email to lassar and they have never heard of this. 

[EricJ]

Gonna be some 337s filed to get this done, for sure.   Not sure what an approved reference would be in this case.

[65eTurbo]

33 minutes ago, Jim Peace said:

I sent an email to lassar and they have never heard of this. 

Tell them to reach out to the previous owner, Paul lowen.  I'll dig up the paperwork.

[Igor_U]

1 hour ago, 65eTurbo said:

Tell them to reach out to the previous owner, Paul lowen.  I'll dig up the paperwork.

I believe some STCs were having his name on the form and not LASAR which makes me thinks he still owns them. Or not?

 

[RLCarter]

I just went through the STC database, didn't see anything under Model, LASAR or Lowen, @65eTurbo the STC number would be helpful, might not even be available any longer

[MB65E]

6 hours ago, 65eTurbo said:

Any STCs for that you can refer me to?

None that I know of, all were 337’d.

-Matt

[65eTurbo]

l1 

[carusoam]

To extend an E 10” of additional cabin length you get an F... That will cost About an extra 10amu...

wait for it...

To extend the baggage area of the F for another 10”... you get an Eagle... that will cost you about an extra 100 amu...

Now you have an Eagle... and you notice that it comes with Charlie weights in that back area... it is useless load that could be swapped out for something more useful... there is about 20LBs of lead back there that can be swapped for O2, AC, or a FIKI system...

changing the weight out requires putting something back in and an official WnB update...

Do the weight and balance calculations... the ski extension is interesting... but any significant weight added in the back won’t work...

Skis have a nice way of having their Cg still in the cabin while their tails are in the back... 

 

Falling out the back of the envelope accidentally, is a terrible way to fail a math test...

Best regards,

-a-

[65eTurbo]

True, all else being equal and the ideal plante being available, an extra 10:k gets you an F  with a higher useful load been a little more  empty weight on the same wing.  For another 100 AMU you you should buy a Bonanza that has an appropriate airframe for an engine that length and weight not add another foot to create a Mooney that can't land in grass.   If you already have a short bodied airplane sorted out the way you'd like, the back seat mod lets you carry 4 passengers comfortably for short trips or sightseeing or 2 adults in front and 2 kids in back plus bags for travel.

My thought with the extended baggage compartment is whether moving the battery to the front and eliminating the weight of the step would allow you to carry your additional higher volume lighter weight items in a far back tail cone space.   Keep in mind that I already have a little extra weight up front from a Turbo charger.  Also keep in mind that my kids will be relatively light weight for another number of years. My inquiry here was to find out of anybody had seen a modification to increase that rear baggage volume on any mooney,, regardless of weight and balance issues.

 We could also add a miraculum bobweight at the back of the tailcone to resolve the issue.( A little aerospace humor therefore you).

Edited June 25, 2019 by 65eTurbo

[M20F-1968]

There is an STC for a ski tube.  I have a copy somewhere in my mountain of paperwork considered when I rebuilt my aircraft.

I decided against it when I remembered the value of the  "Keep it simple stupid" philosophy of aviation safety.

John Breda