I've found an untouched 2-year old Aerocet pod in the lower 48 that I'd like to install on our '73 180J. Am wondering if any folks here have done the install on a Skywagon, and if so, what your impression is for time to install.

Also am looking for someone east of the Rockies to install ours. The plane's currently in New England, but we can move it if need be.

Thanks,
Johnny

To answer your question- Takes 1/2 a day if you've done a few. Whole day if you haven't.

Ive installed a pile of the things. Mostly Firmin. Make sure you have (or your mech has) the correct rivnuts. Sounds simple but- I've fixed a couple originally installed with std rivnuts. Scary. 300# of gear hanging from an ace hardware rivnut.....
Source from Cessna or Aerocet or someone who knows. They're steel/keyed and require a special puller. (Not special- but most pullers won't squeeze them far enough) Bottom line, find someone who's done a couple so they aren't learning on your Cessna skins.

The best option is install at annual and you can put nut plates in maybe half of the holes instead (floor out). Structural epoxy and a keyway cutter for the rivnuts are also key. You spin those steel rivnuts one day and you'll have a mess.

A couple things worth mentioning- I have removed Skycraft (Aerocet) and installed Firmin because those are A. double the price / same weight / Half the room. B. Everything just piles up in the middle as soon as you fly- Its just a tub in there.
Don't wanna talk you out of it but worth contemplating.....
You will love having a pod no matter.

Where do you buy a Firmin pod? And is it STC'd.

Bob Piatt 631-8256 (leave him a message)
I think he gets less than 3 grand for them! Tho I've been telling him to raise his price for a couple years so could be 3K now.
Same guy who makes all the cub pods.

The 180/185 pod isn't stc'd but the field approval is quick, easy and painless. (Well it is here..... for me.....currently)
I beat the crap out of mine and it still looks new.

AK-Hunt,
Thanks for the install info. I'll pass it along to Travis and the guys at Maine Aviation in Portland ME, who are doing the install.
I thought hard about Bob Piatt's pod, and agree that it's a better choice in most respects, but this Aerocet was at a used price for a new unit and I knew the local FSDO would go nuts over the non-STC'd pod. Thought about flying it up to Anchorage for install and approval, but that wouldn't happen until 2018...
J

Ok, we got it on. See pics below.

About 40 hours with all the wrangling and rigging and fitting, although this was the first Aerocet pod I & the shop had done (MAC @ Portland/PWM).

At first it doesn't appear to be a direct fit-up, with 1" gaps front and rear. We strapped it on by running wide tiedown straps under the bow and through the door openings and under the stern by hooking the strap ends to the float fittings, let it sit for two days and periodically tightened the straps, and it eventually moved into shape. A shop in TN that I had talked to earlier on apparently didn't think this through and had built up fiberglass fairings fore & aft to compensate for these gaps . It's not necessary - just slowly pull into shape.

Go very slow with this process (48 hrs +), as the Aerocet pod has a roof, unlike the Cessna pod, and it is more rigid. I imagine you could crack the sealing edge if you didn't take your time and let the material slowly move.

The factory was useless with their customer support. They blew off the shop and me with our questions on poor out-of-the-crate fit. It didn't seem that they have any experience actually installing these pods, and there are reportedly very few shops in the lower 48 that have done them.

The pod construction is solid, and the exterior gel coat is exemplary. The interior gel coat was obviously done either too fast or at too high a temperature/humidity, as it amounts to little more than a paint job. You can easily scratch it away to reveal the fiberglass honeycomb grid & resin they use in the mold. Shouldn't affect usability, but if you wanted to epoxy d-ring patches for tiedown points in there to rig a cargo net in order to prevent load shift during TO/landing, I believe you'd have to abrade the thin gelcoat down to the actual fiberglass to ensure good bonding.

Flight/tech report. Loss of ~3 knots cruise speed. Weighs 38 lbs., certified for 300 lbs load. Brings the CG rearward about 0.62 when installed.
Allows for good distribution of loads in CG sweet spot. Doors dimensions are only 8.8" tall x 28.5" wide, so no Honda 1000 genset, etc.

While smaller than the Cessna or Firmin/Piatt pods, 10 cu ft is a lot of sleeping bags, tents, etc. Plus, it's STC'd for the 180.












Pod interior gelcoat

Looks great!..... I want one!

After flying over it for about 100 hours, I can say that the Aerocet pod, while less capable than the larger ones, is immensely useful. I don't think I would remove it, even for "performance flying" - it's become that much a part of my hauling calculation. It reduced our cruise 2-3 knots and the climb by a tad (a very small "tad"), but the tradeoff is worth it, in my opinion. No more crowded cabin, gasoline odors, exploding bear spray concerns, food leakage smells in the cockpit bringing in hungry bears (fiberglass inner easier to clean than cabin interior).
All those who said we'd love it - you were right.
The one thing I would change would be the height of the doors. Too shallow for bulkier items or things that don't compress.
Johnny

Good, honest report on both installation and utility. Thanks for the follow up. I ran a “Cessna” pod (we weren’t certain it wasn’t someone’s copy, but it was identical to a “real” Cessna pod) on a 185. It was wonderful in winter, when carrying a lot of bulky stuff, like wing/engine covers.

Those cargo pods were huge, though, and much less streamlined than what you have. That one also pushed snow if in deep stuff on wheel skis, which meant taking it off most winters.....

Yours looks to be a lot more well thought out. By the way, the doors are never big enough.... .

MTV

Just an update pic.

While it's not as large as the factory Cessna pod, the Aerocet version really does give a lot of storage options for load distribution. I would say that it might be small for a commercial operator flying in drop camps on a weekly basis, but is perfect for an individual user.
Here's four days worth of gear & 2 pax for the Bob Marshall area in MT. Keeping much of the gear (including bear spray) in the pod made for much easier CG adjustment + ingress/egress for the passengers and day bags.
Little penalty with cruise speeds, and those 2-3 kts have been a fair trade for the enhanced utility. Don't think I'll take the pod off unless necessary for rigging.

Looks like a swarm of bees on the side of your airplane, hope nobody got stung.

Yeah, looks like "quite a number" of bees actually!

Do you happen to know if the exterior of the pod is painted or Gel-Kote? Makes sense that if it came out of a fiberglass mold, they would use Gel-Kote which is porous and might have a tendency to absorb oil and exhaust stains. Have you had any such issues?

hotrod180 wrote:Looks like a swarm of bees on the side of your airplane, hope nobody got stung.

Black flies brother. Black flies...

It’s a gel coat finish on the exterior; epoxy paint on the interior.
Perpetual oil from our breather tube doesn’t seem to be affecting it. I try to keep the front end of the pod waxed for that reason and the oil stains typically wipe off without issue. If I let it go too long, then some elbow grease is in order.
J

Looks like you did a great job on the install of this pod. I am still hunting for an Aerocet pod. My brother has one and he loves it. Too bad I wasn't looking back when you got yours. I would have bought the second one. Anyway, if anyone knows of another that comes up for sale I am interested to buy.