Canadian Rules six seater bearhawk

[way_up_north]

I looked at club seating and found there is little benefit. It might be even worse. The seats are reclined so they reasonably comfortable to sit in. Front seats are the same. So if you turn the 2nd row around the seat backs interfere with each other unless you slide the second row aft thus eliminating the potential benefit. Making the seat back straighter would make them miserable to sit in and you’d be riding backwards. You still couldn’t slide the 3rd row forward at all because you actually need more leg room because now there are more legs trying to occupy the same space.

With reverse seating you would have interesting restraint system, would probably have to be built into the seat itself or come over the heads of the pilots to a structure.

[Mark Moyle]

Because of the landing gear configuration a belly pod will be of minimal benefit CG wise. I'm still going to install one because I need the room and it will have some CG benefit over something like extended baggage but I'll still have to watch my loading very very carefully. I think hard points on the wings and cargo pods mounted to them may be a better solution. There is a local guy that builds such pods for smaller LSA type planes.

I’ve been thinking about the belly pod for both the Bearhawk and the Pacer. For the Pacer will build something with the similar length and side view profile of what you’d find on a Super Cub but wider to fit. On the Bearhawk make it in two pieces, joined at the Oleo struts. Or make it one piece with a removable panel for access to service/install the Oleo struts. This will enable a person to move the belly pod forward.

My reasoning behind adding reinforcements to the bottom side of the floor for the seat/tie down tracks.....sharp negative G’s. The floor may support anything I may choose to haul...but during negative G’s the load isn’t supported by the structure....the load puts the local fasteners in tension. Nut clips with #6 screws won’t be strong enough. And the need to eliminate warping of the flooring. Grade 2, #6 screws good to 374#’s grade 5 are good to 579 pounds.
Number 8 grade 5 machine screws and nut plates are good to 893, #10’s in grade five are rated 1177 pounds in tension.. I’m gonna have to do the math to find what the shock loading is to determine screw spacing...

[whee]

Approximate widths as measured in my plane at my seat locations at shoulder height:

Middle row, 41”

3rd row: 31”

[way_up_north]

Approximate widths as measured in my plane at my seat locations at shoulder height:

Middle row, 41”

3rd row: 31”

Thanks for taking the time to post those measurements, just to clarify that’s with the seats in thier traditional positions...the second seat at the plans specified location and the 3rd row against the back wall? Or at new more optimal positions to take advantage of better cg situation?

i found the source you talked about online... it’s about $70usd for 6 feet of floor seat track, great idea you had there... I’ll post a link when I get home in case anyone else is interested

[whee]

That is at the approximate traditional positions. Sliding the 2nd row forward doesn't give a whole lot more shoulder room. But since my 2nd row is two individual seats I can offset them if needed for shoulder space.

[fairchild]

Whee---- if your engine is about 50 lbs lighter than the 540--- that SOUNDS like it might be in the goldielocks range of max weight. ( about 360 lbs ??? )
Can you tell us what engine you selected ? Cont IO-360 ? Love to hear !
Like the 540 power but seems pretty heavy - (not maybe for the power-- but near the anvil end of the weight range)
Tim

[whee]

Whee---- if your engine is about 50 lbs lighter than the 540--- that SOUNDS like it might be in the goldielocks range of max weight. ( about 360 lbs ??? )
Can you tell us what engine you selected ? Cont IO-360 ? Love to hear !
Like the 540 power but seems pretty heavy - (not maybe for the power-- but near the anvil end of the weight range)
Tim

Tim, I did chose the Conti IO360 for various reasons. One of those reasons was its lighter weight; lighter than the 540 but heavier than the Lyc360. I think there are a couple different threads on here about it.

[Bcone1381]

Here is another data point for seat track and tie down suppliers. Their tie-down points seem very reasonable to me. Our common aviation suppliers add another digit to some of this hardware.

http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Ratchet-Straps-Tie-Downs/Recessed-L-Track-tie-down

http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Ratchet-Straps-Tie-Downs/Black-Painted-L-Track/Round-Airline-Track-2-inch-Piece_2

http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Ratchet-Straps-Tie-Downs/L-Track-Stud-Fittings-Accessories