How much weight savings is possible by either replacing or removing the factory interior of a Cessna 172:

1. Replacing the factory interior with Selkirk and/or other lightweight products?

2. Removing the factory interior and leaving it in "utility" condition?

Thanx, Dave.

I had a 172 with a plastic interior that had some Selkirk products. I don't recall the Selkirk parts (the tailcone bulkhead and baggage area) being lighter. They were definitely better and more durable, and likely heavier. Most of the rest of the Cessna interior panels were vacuum formed paper thin garbage that cracked when you looked at it. I imagine it would be hard to do better with regards to weight than the Cessna parts, at least in mine.

I believe Selkirk also sells the ensolite foam that is popular in utility interiors.

Thanx to jc for his info answering the first of my two questions!

But, what about question number 2?
How many pounds of weight savings would result by removing the Cessna factory interior of a 172?

Thanx again, Dave

If an annual is done right, a lot of that stuff is removed, so that you could weigh it. My uneducated guess is that you might save 20 lbs taking out the back seat, but only less than 5 lbs to remove the entire remaining interior. That stuff as it came from the factory is amazingly light (and flimsy).

As my son once told me when I was thinking of getting a new lighter weight bicycle for the Ride the Rockies, "Dad, you'd be pounds ahead to lighten the rider." Truer, if not as undiplomatic, words were never spoken.

Cary

Dave,
I previously pulled out my 170B interior, which I believe actually came from an early 172. Here are those figures.

-DP

RUG 4lbs 4oz
KNEE PANEL: R 1lb 12oz
KNEE PANEL: L 2lb 1oz
MISC JUNK 3lbs 3oz
AFT WALL PANELS AND INSULATION 11lbs 15oz
DOOR PANEL: R 2lbs 10oz
DOOR PANEL: L 2lbs 10oz
HEADLINER 4lbs 8oz
FRONT SEAT REFURB (est) 7lbs
OVERHEAD SPEAKER (few pounds)
AFT TAILCONE BARRIER (1-2 lbs)
REAR BENCH SEAT (not sure, memory says 22 lbs. Swapped for Atlees a long time ago)

Thanx DP!

You're memory is pretty good. The rear bench seat is exactly 22#, the headrests are another 1.5#, and I've already removed those. The rest of the stuff that you listed, totals up to 45# more!

Cary wrote:
As my son once told me when I was thinking of getting a new lighter weight bicycle for the Ride the Rockies, "Dad, you'd be pounds ahead to lighten the rider." Truer, if not as undiplomatic, words were never spoken.

Cary

You can do both...and be even further ahead.

BluNosDav wrote:Thanx DP!

You're memory is pretty good. The rear bench seat is exactly 22#, the headrests are another 1.5#, and I've already removed those. The rest of the stuff that you listed, totals up to 45# more!

If your airplane had headrests, it is a relatively later model, or the seats are anyway. Over the years, Cessna interiors got heavier I believe.

What is your goal for weight reduction? As in why do you want to reduce weight, specifically?

At best, the 172 is a pretty good three place airplane, and at high DA and with a load of camping gear, it’s really a two seater. The previous owner of my 175 removed the back seat and installed ONE Atlee Dodge folding seat. That makes a lot of sense to me, since I rarely even want to put four people in it, and three seats works good for 99% of my mission.

I’d consider losing that big bench seat, and install one Atlee folder.

A caveat: I am based at 4500 msl, and daytime DA is often 7000 plus.

MTV

If I can still add in my head, all that stuff came to about 62 lbs. I guess my question is, what is the purpose of lightening the airplane to that extent? On a really short strip at a high DA, yeah, it'll make a difference, but not a dramatic difference; is it enough to warrant doing it? I don't know, but I don't think so. It's not enough to make the airplane into a great load carrier, i.e., another passenger. It's not enough to turn the airplane into a super STOL airplane.

FWIW, I haven't done any of that stuff to my P172D, and I routinely fly in high DAs. The strips I use aren't super short, but with DAs in the 10,000' range, performance is down, but I can still get off the ground in about 1500'. So I get in and out with a load of "glamping" gear, dog, etc. and a little more than half tanks (mine holds 52 gallons). I get safely over passes like Corona/Rollins at almost 11,700'. Would dropping 60+ lbs make any noticeable difference in where I can go? I doubt it.

But everyone has his/her own ideas of what to do to their airplane, so if it's worth it to you, best of luck!

Cary

Just for some comparison, I did an interior renovation on a buddy’s 182P a few years ago. I replaced the carpet with coin mat flooring(not pad, just the rubber material), removed all the plastic interior except the pillar posts, armrests, rear bench, installed atllee dodge jump seats, removed a bunch of abandoned coax, etc., etc., etc. The net weight savings was 112 lbs, that was on the scales, not calculated.

I stripped my C170 and put coin dot on floor. I ran the coin dot up the sides and back about six inches. This traps dirt and such ; makes it much easier to clean and keeps more crap out of belly. Mine is used as a bush/farm plane so can get pretty grubby.