What is your Useful Load in your M20E?

[Echo]

M20E I am purchasing has 805 useful load.  What is yours?  Plane has long range MonRoy tanks installed.  With my wife and I utilizing max fill is a no go.

[dzeleski]

20 minutes ago, Echo said:

M20E I am purchasing has 805 useful load.  What is yours?  Plane has long range MonRoy tanks installed.  With my wife and I utilizing max fill is a no go.

That seems really low for an E. Most of them are somewhere around 900-1000lbs. What equipment does it have other then the tanks?

 

[Echo]

Plane was reweighed in 1983 and useful load went from 902 down to 863. Ugh.  Was 850 in 1990 and now 805?  I am going to check some math. Sheesh

[dzeleski]

7 minutes ago, Echo said:

Plane was reweighed in 1983 and useful load went from 902 down to 863. Ugh.  Was 850 in 1990 and now 805?  I am going to check some math. Sheesh

I’ll bet someone messed up with the scales or math and it was never caught. Or someone installed a lead weight for fun!

[AndreiC]

My 1970 E has a useful load of about 890 lbs. Equipped with 430W, KX 155, STEC 30, steam gauges. Lightweight starter, everything else is standard. 

I just went through all the W&B docs since inception, and found about 32 lbs that were added on but forgot to be removed. 

So if W&B docs are to be believed, the true useful load should be closer to 920 lbs. But like people, planes tend to gain weight over time without noticing…

[RLCarter]

Mine was 950ish…. Ended up redoing the W&B to get a number I could trust, all the superseded (6) sheets had errors and the mystical current W&B sheet was MIA. Some on here will advise against doing a re-weighing as it generally is heavier than stated. I had standard tanks (52 gal) which was longer than I wanted to fly..lol

[Joshua Blackh4t]

Are passengers Useful load? Especially the ones who don't bring snacks.

[Shadrach]

13 hours ago, Echo said:

Plane was reweighed in 1983 and useful load went from 902 down to 863. Ugh.  Was 850 in 1990 and now 805?  I am going to check some math. Sheesh

This is a rare case where I think you have nothing to lose by putting the plane on the scales. There are likely so many errors in the paperwork (both calculated and potentially from the weighing procedure) that the risk of a new miscalculation is mitigated by the current W&B. Your E is supposedly 90lbs heavier than my F and I still have a generator and some other items that could be removed.

[Echo]

1 minute ago, Shadrach said:

This is a rare case where I think you have nothing to lose by putting the plane on the scales. There are likely so many errors in the paperwork (both calculated and potentially from the weighing procedure) that the risk of a new miscalculation is mitigated by the current W&B. Your E is 90lbs heavier than my F and I still have a generator and some other items that could be removed.

I 100% agree Ross.  Scott

[KLudwick]

I am 'seconding' the vote to reweigh the airplane!  My E model has most 201 mods, and I see a useful load of 1,050.  After reweighing the airplane before/after avionics in 2021, we gained a good bit of useful load but also rectified a couple prior issues with the empty weight of the airplane.  I suspect you'll gain some weight back after you reweigh it, and I certainly don't see the useful load going down!

[Shadrach]

23 minutes ago, KLudwick said:

I am 'seconding' the vote to reweigh the airplane!  My E model has most 201 mods, and I see a useful load of 1,050.  After reweighing the airplane before/after avionics in 2021, we gained a good bit of useful load but also rectified a couple prior issues with the empty weight of the airplane.  I suspect you'll gain some weight back after you reweigh it, and I certainly don't see the useful load going down!

Wow, 1525lb empty weight! That is a light airplane.  That has to be fun to fly with just a pilot and a few hours of fuel.  My plane feels distinctively more agile at weights of 2100lbs and below. given yours is 155lbs lighter, I am sure that it's eager in climb and will land quite short when needed.

[kortopates]

When you get it re-weighed you can help insure and accurate weighing. Don’t show up with a lot of fuel, come in as empty as you can so it can be weighed after draining the tanks and just adding back the unusable fuel in each tank. A lot of error can can be introduced calculating out a non-precise amount of fuel on board otherwise.


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[0TreeLemur]

One thing to keep in mind when draining the fuel to weigh an older Mooney is this:  The fuel drains screw into a steel gusseted receptacle  that is riveted in the bottom of the fuel tank where water sometimes accumulates.   They corrode.   Removing the fuel drain can damage them so be gentle.   You'll find that in this case after screwing the fuel drain back in it doesn't completely seal.  We discovered that problem in our '67C, and they replaced that steel receptacle when we had the tank resealed.

[Fly Boomer]

19 hours ago, dzeleski said:

I’ll bet someone messed up with the scales or math and it was never caught. Or someone installed a lead weight for fun!

One year at Philmont, the afternoon before we hit the trail on our modest 75-mile itinerary, I was going to take my pack to the scales for a "before" weight.  I picked it up, slung one strap over my shoulder, and said "Nope".  My "pals" had added a rock the size of a volleyball.  Once I got that out, I was back down to 50 pounds.

[Greg Ellis]

4 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said:

One year at Philmont, the afternoon before we hit the trail on our modest 75-mile itinerary, I was going to take my pack to the scales for a "before" weight.  I picked it up, slung one strap over my shoulder, and said "Nope".  My "pals" had added a rock the size of a volleyball.  Once I got that out, I was back down to 50 pounds.

With friends like that......

[Ragsf15e]

2 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

One year at Philmont, the afternoon before we hit the trail on our modest 75-mile itinerary, I was going to take my pack to the scales for a "before" weight.  I picked it up, slung one strap over my shoulder, and said "Nope".  My "pals" had added a rock the size of a volleyball.  Once I got that out, I was back down to 50 pounds.

That was pretty standard for Air Force lieutenants when others in the squadron went tdy… add some 3 hole punches, books and other office supplies to the luggage if it was laying around.  Bonus points, once i saw the top 3 tell a lt to remove all the underwear from a bag and put it in the freezer. After the departing flight taxied out, the top 3 called them on their aux freq and told them that there were a bunch of underwear found in the freezer.  All the flight crews got to wonder who’s it was the whole way to Vegas.

[takair]

My E has 880 useful load.  I have  bladders that take about 30lbs of useful load themselves….plus carry more fuel…. Mine is also rather loaded with older avionics.  

[gmonnig]

I loaded up my E with all the new fancy avionics, new carpets, interior (skipped leather to keep weight down) and weighed 1676lbs. So 899lbs useful load. The previous owner was an A&P that owned it for 40yrs. He was meticulous with log entires including W&B. I was curious to its real weight but I waited till all my mods were done before putting on the scales. His calculations over the years must have been close but we did find the CG was what was actually off. A miscalculation shifted the CG aft exactly one inch in the 80s. Not likely to cause a big issue but it’s nice to know everything is as accurate as I can make it.