gmonnig Posted February 17, 2023 Report Posted February 17, 2023 Just wanted to throw up some pictures of my 65’ E interior job. I’ve been working on this on the side while I was doing my panel upgrade in 22’. I ordered SCS carpet in brown and Airtex upholstery in biscuit (ordered at Oshkosh, delivered in Dec). Seatbelts were down by Aviation Safety Products in GA who did an awesome job and about one week turnaround. My wife did the vinyl work using our Sailrite sewing machine including the boot around the controls (post 65’s got that plastic cover), wind lacing around all openings, and the armrests. My aircraft did not have the headrest built into the seat structure, so I fabricated them out of a square tube, 1/2” diameter aluminum tubing , then riveted it all together. All of this was way more work than anticipated, but that’s airplane sh#t for ya….. 16 2 Quote
RoundTwo Posted February 17, 2023 Report Posted February 17, 2023 Congratulations. That looks great! 1 Quote
Fly Boomer Posted February 17, 2023 Report Posted February 17, 2023 7 hours ago, gmonnig said: All of this was way more work than anticipated, but that’s airplane sh#t for ya….. Super clean work! Lots of work, but worth it. 1 Quote
Pinecone Posted February 17, 2023 Report Posted February 17, 2023 Looks good. I am trying to decide which way to go on my 252. I talked to my FBO and they said they have done several Airtex interiors and are happy with them. Even if they do the work, it is about half what Aero Comfort costs. 1 Quote
redbaron1982 Posted February 17, 2023 Report Posted February 17, 2023 This looks super cool. Hopefully very soon I should finally get my plane (my first plane!) and I'm thinking ways to start making it my own. When I initially bought I was thinking on doing some panel upgrades (removing the vacuum system, adding two GI275 as AI+HSI, removing com/nav 2 with a second nav/com/gps unit) but then reality kicked in and I had a really bad first annual. Now I'm looking to some not so expensive upgrades, and the interior is one of them... it seems that with some personal labor plus 5k you can do some descent upgrades to the interior. 1 Quote
BobbyH Posted February 17, 2023 Report Posted February 17, 2023 I love it, great job on the headrests! 1 Quote
Igor_U Posted February 17, 2023 Report Posted February 17, 2023 Your Seats came out fantastic! Most of the people go with the leather but this fabric is super nice. Was that one of their premium fabrics? I like your choice of colors too. Enjoy your plane. Quote
gmonnig Posted February 17, 2023 Author Report Posted February 17, 2023 18 minutes ago, Igor_U said: Your Seats came out fantastic! Most of the people go with the leather but this fabric is super nice. Was that one of their premium fabrics? I like your choice of colors too. Enjoy your plane. It is their premium fabric. I think fabric is more comfortable, warm in the winter and cooler in the summer. The added benefit is it's lighter than leather. I also went with the lightest carpets without backing or sound deadening. We removed old wires and vacuum lines too, so hopefully gonna gain a little useful load. We shall see what she weighs in at! With my remote transponder and GDL88 in the tail, I'm hoping to switch to an Earth X battery to save an additional 20lbs of weight. 3 Quote
gmonnig Posted February 17, 2023 Author Report Posted February 17, 2023 2 hours ago, redbaron1982 said: This looks super cool. Hopefully very soon I should finally get my plane (my first plane!) and I'm thinking ways to start making it my own. When I initially bought I was thinking on doing some panel upgrades (removing the vacuum system, adding two GI275 as AI+HSI, removing com/nav 2 with a second nav/com/gps unit) but then reality kicked in and I had a really bad first annual. Now I'm looking to some not so expensive upgrades, and the interior is one of them... it seems that with some personal labor plus 5k you can do some descent upgrades to the interior. Absolutely. $5k could do a lot. I haven't really totalled up everything but there's a lot you can do to clean things up. I think the seats were $2100 (with their Oshkosh discount), SCS carpets were $750, seatbelts were $750, and then random hardware/paint/... Quote
glbtrottr Posted March 1, 2023 Report Posted March 1, 2023 Upholstery is not an easy skill I’m in the middle of an upholstery class at Riverside City College. I picked up a good amount of aviation leather hides from Gulfstream - practicing with vinyl learning all about saddle stitching and some old school ways to make luxury seats . We will see Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote
0TreeLemur Posted March 2, 2023 Report Posted March 2, 2023 Good job! In my opinion, refreshing the interior and windows is the most satisfying thing we can do without an A&P. Your work looks fantastic, with real skill demonstrated on the headrest mods. 1 Quote
gmonnig Posted March 3, 2023 Author Report Posted March 3, 2023 On 3/1/2023 at 10:46 AM, glbtrottr said: Upholstery is not an easy skill I’m in the middle of an upholstery class at Riverside City College. I picked up a good amount of aviation leather hides from Gulfstream - practicing with vinyl learning all about saddle stitching and some old school ways to make luxury seats . We will see Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk That’s awesome! I have been experimenting with leather stitching, mainly because I wanted to leather wrap the vertical portions of the yoke and center post. It’s definitely an art form. I’ve messed up numerous time already. I’m very mechanically inclined but my wife is the seamstress. She makes all of the boat cushions on our sailboat and mahogany speedboat. I know she gets great joy out of being superior at sewing and upholstery. Quote
gmonnig Posted March 3, 2023 Author Report Posted March 3, 2023 On 3/1/2023 at 9:06 PM, 0TreeLemur said: Good job! In my opinion, refreshing the interior and windows is the most satisfying thing we can do without an A&P. Your work looks fantastic, with real skill demonstrated on the headrest mods. Thanks! The headrests were requested by my wife. Her favorite part of flying is the purring engine lulling her to sleep. And I can’t have her Bose headsets scratching my windows when she passes out. Quote
gmonnig Posted March 3, 2023 Author Report Posted March 3, 2023 Also tried a new mounting spot for the iPad. I think this is a great spot so far. Power cable is hidden in the trim and the iPad doesn’t actually block the view, though it kinda looks like it does. I have tried the yoke mount, which is ok but blocks inputs into the GI-275 HSI and also the switches. I have a mount on the copilot side and the iPad canted towards the pilot side. This works great but in IFR it makes approach plates harder to read. Also being right on the panel, it’ll be in direct sunlight most of the time without airflow. This upper mount keeps it in the shade all the time with airflow! 1 Quote
Kirch56H Posted March 4, 2023 Report Posted March 4, 2023 The IPad mounted up top is unique. How did you mount it? Do you have any pictures of the mounting setup? Quote
Fly Boomer Posted March 4, 2023 Report Posted March 4, 2023 On 3/2/2023 at 10:27 PM, gmonnig said: Also tried a new mounting spot for the iPad What model iPad? It looks bigger than a Mini. Quote
gmonnig Posted March 4, 2023 Author Report Posted March 4, 2023 1 hour ago, Fly Boomer said: What model iPad? It looks bigger than a Mini. It's the newest mini. I agree that the photo makes like look huge (TWSS), but it doesn't obstruct the view or anything. It has an added bonus that both pilots can see everything too. Quote
gmonnig Posted March 5, 2023 Author Report Posted March 5, 2023 4 hours ago, Kirch56H said: The IPad mounted up top is unique. How did you mount it? Do you have any pictures of the mounting setup? Pretty simple, just a ram mount on the center post and a short throw arm. 1 Quote
glbtrottr Posted March 5, 2023 Report Posted March 5, 2023 Ram mounts rule the world Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote
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