Aero Mods one piece belly

[fantom]

Quote: scottfromiowa

I'd like to see that video fantom..."five minutes".  Signed,

Sceptic without a smoking drill.

[jetdriven]

Hmm.  if you save 2 hours of labor a year X 75$ an hour thats 150$ a year.  This is assuming tht your MSC or shop gives you a 150$ discount from the base annual rate for having the belly panel (do they?).

It costs 7K, loses 10-15 lbs of useful load, and has a payback of 46 YEARS.  If you are an owner assist annual type, your time MIGHT be worth half that so, your payoff goes to 93 YEARS.   Sign me up! 

Of course if the thing is already geared up, you can only consider the weight penalty.  Given the visceral reaction about losing 33 pounds to eliminate fuel leaks for 20 years or more,  one can see why there are few buyers for this mod.

[nels]

I'll tell you Byron, if the belly was 7 grand I wouldn't give it a second thought. I needed belly repair and just happened to see a new, never out of the box, fiberglass belly on Barnstormers for $1500. I figure the cost is not at all out of line and might even save a few bucks by not fabricating all the alum panels. I hate to add weight just as you say but if it quiets the plane a few decibals and gains anything at all in speed, I will be more than happy. When I get the kit I'll weigh it and let you guys know what the weight penalty is. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

[scottfromiowa]

Quote: fantom

Bring a calibrated stop watch, your video camera, lots of betting cash, and a humble pie Scott 

[nels]

Well the new belly arrived today. It has the skid rails on it to help in the event of a gear up landing. Its brand new, in the box, never drilled or installed. It is a dual purpose type. It is made for either the long body through the 201's or 10 inchs can be cut from the rear and it can then be used on the short body. I weighed it on the bathroom scale first with just me then me, the belly and hardware. Looks like the assembly for the long body would weigh 23#'s. The instructions say to add 10 #'s to the plane weight after install so I assume there is about 13#'s of aluminum and hardware that is removed during the installation process.

Now that I bought it the guy working on the plane says he thinks we should just replace the aluminum skin. I wish he would have said that earlier. Anybody know of a gear up landed 201 for sale ? Maybe I could make use of it in the future.

[DaV8or]

I haven't looked at the problem myself yet, but how come they can't make a one piece aluminum belly? Just replace the multitudes with one continous one with perhaps a few stiffeners and fewer fasteners.

[Hank]

Probably because the required stiffeners would not have sufficient clearance from the flight controls and frame. The belly is rather long, and putting in longitudinal stiffeners on an 8' long piece of 0.040" aluminum, with crosswise stiffeners and mounting plates for the airframe bulkheads, would be a chore. There's not a lot of vertical clearance, just an inch or two, to the tail tubes, gear motors, etc.

Real estate below the floor panels is at a premium! That's part of reducing the flat-plate area. Otherwise, our planes would be as draggy as Beeches . . . .

[KSMooniac]

The 1-pc belly might be more labor right now to install, but it will reward you every time you do maintenance in the future... Since you already have it in hand, I'd go ahead and install it.

[Parker_Woodruff]

Quote: KSMooniac

[nels]

I'm debating on weather or not to keep the belly kit. Since I bought this E model project I've run across and bought a 201 prop and now this belly. I haven't even flown in an E model but in the back od my mind I think I might end up with a 201 eventually. The only way I will be able to afford or justify owning one is to buy one that has done a gear up landing. The usual problems, minus the engine damage, is a prop and the belly repair parts. I have both in hand right now. Who knows, something just might turn up. As I said in a prior post, are there any such animals out there?

[nels]

I'm debating on weather or not to keep the belly kit. Since I bought this E model project I've run across and bought a 201 prop and now this belly. I haven't even flown in an E model but in the back od my mind I think I might end up with a 201 eventually. The only way I will be able to afford or justify owning one is to buy one that has done a gear up landing. The usual problems, minus the engine damage, is a prop and the belly repair parts. I have both in hand right now. Who knows, something just might turn up. As I said in a prior post, are there any such animals out there?

[Wildhorsesracing]

 

I took the bellypans  off of my plane and could only get 80%of the screws out successfully. It took me 4 hrs just to get the screws out that didn't need special attention. The shop has a mooney with a one pc belly in for an annual and he had the belly pan off in 15 mins.  Added speed or not it is worth it for the lack of aggravation!

[PTK]

Does the one piece belly, any one piece belly, add any speed? That's what I want to know. If not then I don't see the point.

[Hank]

It adds a lot of speed to all maintenance, and removing panels is MY PART of all maintenance.

That said, the one-piece is nice to have, but I don't know how much I would pay to have it. The new Bill Wheat belly with the quick-turn fasteners would be nice, but even my 52-screw belly comes off pretty quick. Now that I'm the only one putting it on, it comes off even quicker.

[fantom]

Quote: Wildhorsesracing

 The shop has a mooney with a one pc belly in for an annual and he had the belly pan off in 15 mins.

[KSMooniac]

Quote: allsmiles

Does the one piece belly, any one piece belly, add any speed? That's what I want to know. If not then I don't see the point.

[Wildhorsesracing]

Quote: fantom

That's actually slow in my experience. 10 minutes at most. Some shops knock $100 off the annual if you have one.

The best motivation for wanting one is that 'smiles doesn't "see the point". Note that his plane doesn't have one so he should know

[PTK]

Quote: fantom

That's actually slow in my experience. 10 minutes at most. Some shops knock $100 off the annual if you have one.

The best motivation for wanting one is that 'smiles doesn't "see the point". Note that his plane doesn't have one so he should know

[Wildhorsesracing]

Quote: allsmiles

It's a legitimate question. Does anyone know if it adds any speed? At $4K, a deduction of 100$ per annual equals 40 annuals!

[fantom]

Quote: allsmiles

Obviously Fantom doesn't know, can't read and feels like blowing hot steam as per his usual mo. 

[PTK]

I'm figuring 4k installed. Is this in the ballpark?

[jeckford]

We just got a quote from Dugosh for the Bill Wheat version.  IIRC it was ballpark $4000 for the hardware and around $4000 labor to install.

[PilotDerek]

^ $8K wow.....I'll keep my $1 screwdriver. I'd rather put that money into my panel.

[PTK]

Quote: PilotDerek

^ $8K wow.....I'll keep my $1 screwdriver. I'd rather put that money into my panel.

[jetdriven]

From April......

Quote: jetdriven

Hmm.  if you save 2 hours of labor a year X 75$ an hour thats 150$ a year.  This is assuming tht your MSC or shop gives you a 150$ discount from the base annual rate for having the belly panel (do they?).

It costs 7K, loses 10-15 lbs of useful load, and has a payback of 46 YEARS.  If you are an owner assist annual type, your time MIGHT be worth half that so, your payoff goes to 93 YEARS.   Sign me up! 

Of course if the thing is already geared up, you can only consider the weight penalty.  Given the visceral reaction about losing 33 pounds to eliminate fuel leaks for 20 years or more,  one can see why there are few buyers for this mod.