Aircraft assembly, Weight and Balance

I started off this morning by rectifying two items mentioned during the 100 hour check yesterday. Firstly I added a pulley guard on each flap pulley, then added a rub tube over the trim cable beside the turnbuckle.

Next we spent a couple of hours assembling the inspection port covers, engine cowlings, and trim pieces. Once that was done we put the tail on trestles, and weighed the aircraft.

We weighed it 4 times, and zeroed the scales in between each time. Then we used a plumb bob to mark the position of the leading edge on the floor, then the front wheels and the tailwheel.

This resulted in a total weight of 1498 lbs, and a CG position of 8.3 inches aft of the leading edge. I'm very happy with those figures. Obviously once we add tie down pickets, first aid kit, headsets etc, it will add 20 lbs or so. But this gives 1000 pounds of useful load, and that using a MTOW of 2500lbs, the keep the takeoff and landing weights the same. The actual MTOW is 2700lbs, so there's a huge buffer there.

This afternoon I added 10 liters (about 10 quarts) of oil and we turned the engine over using the starter motor to check oil pressure. It rose to 30 PSI.