I am planning on revising the original interior of my TU206G amphibian, maybe I can get rid of some useless stuff. I'll be redoing the seats and it seems that after removing the springs you can actually have comfy modern seats for the same or even lower weight than the originals, will see.
I am a new airplane owner, every advice and experience is very welcome.

While the 206 may have some special considerations, there's still much to be gleaned from a search:

Go to Google, or your browser address bar and type:

Code: Select all

site:backcountrypilot.org cessna weight loss

Or any variations on that topic. Here's a few returned results that are related:

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/the- ... were-14888
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/cert ... tion-20139
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/stra ... plan-17193
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/ligh ... -c-g-21959

We reworked a U 206G on Wipline 3450 amphibs and equipped with an IO 550 engine, with the intent to lighten it as much as practical.

The front, articulating seats (read heavy) were exchanged for fixed seats, which saved considerable weight. Those seats had springs removed and replaced with Cecinite. Then foam and upholstery. No headliner. Huge weight saving.

Rear seats were removed. Center seats were standard “jump” seats, and were left as is. Everything door posts aft was stripped out, and left bare metal. This was a utility airplane, so pretty and quiet were not factors. Your mileage may vary.

Avionics were simplified to bare minimum. Seriously. No autopilot, no second comm, everything very basic VFR.

The airplane was equipped with extra long range tanks, for a total of ~ 125 gallons available.

I can’t recall the empty weight, but with the Wipline 3800 pound gross weight, the plane had over 1200 pounds useful, or more.

This airplane wound up a bit austere, but what a performer.

MTV

You can check out my 206 ramp mummy resto thread ad well and see how I'm doing the interior on my P206. Planning to wait on the seats for now as I'm building a hangar, but even with the seats the way they are, I'm hoping to be under 1900lbs. That's with LR fuel and a IO-520. I think I could live with 1700+ useful.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

mtv wrote:We reworked a U 206G on Wipline 3450 amphibs and equipped with an IO 550 engine, with the intent to lighten it as much as practical.

The front, articulating seats (read heavy) were exchanged for fixed seats, which saved considerable weight. Those seats had springs removed and replaced with Cecinite. Then foam and upholstery. No headliner. Huge weight saving.

Rear seats were removed. Center seats were standard “jump” seats, and were left as is. Everything door posts aft was stripped out, and left bare metal. This was a utility airplane, so pretty and quiet were not factors. Your mileage may vary.

Avionics were simplified to bare minimum. Seriously. No autopilot, no second comm, everything very basic VFR.

The airplane was equipped with extra long range tanks, for a total of ~ 125 gallons available.

I can’t recall the empty weight, but with the Wipline 3800 pound gross weight, the plane had over 1200 pounds useful, or more.


This airplane wound up a bit austere, but what a performer.

MTV

At a guess (SWAG), how much weight did you strip out?

That's funny. We're heading on opposite tracks. I'm doing our project U206F to have a luxurious interior, soundproofed as best I can get it and to have lots of stuff in the panel. I'm adding back in ADF and DME, things people are taking out right now. I have a set of hardline utility seats, I'm rebuilding them into luxury seats with new slings, foam, leather, headrests and lambswool inserts. My missions will be short legs 200-300nm. 6 light pax and no bags. Flying off long grass strips during summer.

I'll work hard on the rigging and engine set up to get the best performance I can.

irishc180 wrote:I'm adding back in ADF and DME, things people are taking out right now.

Are the NDB’s up your way still in service? Or is it for the AM radio?

I just checked the map and was surprised there were any NDBs in my area that are still functioning.

Zzz wrote:While the 206 may have some special considerations, there's still much to be gleaned from a search:

Go to Google, or your browser address bar and type:

Code: Select all

site:backcountrypilot.org cessna weight loss

Or any variations on that topic. Here's a few returned results that are related:

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/the- ... were-14888
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/cert ... tion-20139
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/stra ... plan-17193
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/ligh ... -c-g-21959

Thanks! I tried some searches to no avail. The first link is the most useful.

mtv wrote:We reworked a U 206G on Wipline 3450 amphibs and equipped with an IO 550 engine, with the intent to lighten it as much as practical.

The front, articulating seats (read heavy) were exchanged for fixed seats, which saved considerable weight. Those seats had springs removed and replaced with Cecinite. Then foam and upholstery. No headliner. Huge weight saving.

Rear seats were removed. Center seats were standard “jump” seats, and were left as is. Everything door posts aft was stripped out, and left bare metal. This was a utility airplane, so pretty and quiet were not factors. Your mileage may vary.

Avionics were simplified to bare minimum. Seriously. No autopilot, no second comm, everything very basic VFR.

The airplane was equipped with extra long range tanks, for a total of ~ 125 gallons available.

I can’t recall the empty weight, but with the Wipline 3800 pound gross weight, the plane had over 1200 pounds useful, or more.

This airplane wound up a bit austere, but what a performer.

MTV

Now that's serious business there. I guess I am willing to spare old stuff, maybe even the autopilot (my Kap150 likes being inop most of the time anyway), will try to keep the electric trim though. I'll redo the interior but again a humble approach will be the goal. Is vinyl the lightest material for redoing seats?. Also, can you recall the weight loss when going from articulated seats to fixed ones?. My 206 has the Wips4000 amphibian floats so they are like 50lbs more heavy than the 3450's, but I can still top at 3800lbs max gross with aprox 950lbs useful. It seems to me that these birds gain weight with the pass of time but I can't isolate where from.

Weight reduction is a complex problem. If you want the benefits of comfy seats and less of a roaring noise, then you have a bit of weight to go with that. It kind of goes along with he what we call "Weight Weenies" in biking. They will get all excited over a few tenths of a gram and pay a large amount of money for a fractionally lighter part. Really, the huge reduction on weight can be had by looking in the mirror. Lighter pilot.

I don't think I would ever put an ADF back in an aircraft, except for overseas where it is still mandated. I do try to keep my weights down by selection of material. I personally would not make my seats into sling seats and expect to enjoy flying a hundred hours sitting on them. Stripping an interior may save some weight, but there are things like; whatever you put in the back, sliding around and wanging the exterior skin putting a wonk in it. Skins are a pain in the ass to replace, cargo slides around, or monkeys loading the aircraft bonk the skin. It is far easier and cheaper to replace or repair an interior panel than the skin.

Selkirk interior and 1/2" closed cell soundproofing are not going to add real weight over the stock plastics and fibreglass.

irishc180 wrote:Selkirk interior and 1/2" closed cell soundproofing are not going to add real weight over the stock plastics and fibreglass.

Are you talking about this foam? https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... nstall.php

i have zero intention of putting fiberglass back in my plane, but haven't figured out what's next. Is this stuff worth the cost? A 1'x4' piece is $21.50, not horrible but that can add up. I'm thinking maybe just the roof and some strategic areas around the forward section, not the entire airplane. It certainly isn't going to get any noisier than it was before, and I already dropped the noise by 11db just doing door and window seals, so I'm pretty pleased with that.

dogpilot wrote:Weight reduction is a complex problem. If you want the benefits of comfy seats and less of a roaring noise, then you have a bit of weight to go with that. It kind of goes along with he what we call "Weight Weenies" in biking. They will get all excited over a few tenths of a gram and pay a large amount of money for a fractionally lighter part. Really, the huge reduction on weight can be had by looking in the mirror. Lighter pilot.

I don't think I would ever put an ADF back in an aircraft, except for overseas where it is still mandated. I do try to keep my weights down by selection of material. I personally would not make my seats into sling seats and expect to enjoy flying a hundred hours sitting on them. Stripping an interior may save some weight, but there are things like; whatever you put in the back, sliding around and wanging the exterior skin putting a wonk in it. Skins are a pain in the ass to replace, cargo slides around, or monkeys loading the aircraft bonk the skin. It is far easier and cheaper to replace or repair an interior panel than the skin.

I’m with you on all accounts, but I’ve heard that seats with ceconite and memory foam are really comfortable as well as light.

Canalguna wrote:

Zzz wrote:While the 206 may have some special considerations, there's still much to be gleaned from a search:

Go to Google, or your browser address bar and type:

Code: Select all

site:backcountrypilot.org cessna weight loss

Or any variations on that topic. Here's a few returned results that are related:

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/the- ... were-14888
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/cert ... tion-20139
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/stra ... plan-17193
https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/ligh ... -c-g-21959

Thanks! I tried some searches to no avail. The first link is the most useful.

mtv wrote:We reworked a U 206G on Wipline 3450 amphibs and equipped with an IO 550 engine, with the intent to lighten it as much as practical.

The front, articulating seats (read heavy) were exchanged for fixed seats, which saved considerable weight. Those seats had springs removed and replaced with Cecinite. Then foam and upholstery. No headliner. Huge weight saving.

Rear seats were removed. Center seats were standard “jump” seats, and were left as is. Everything door posts aft was stripped out, and left bare metal. This was a utility airplane, so pretty and quiet were not factors. Your mileage may vary.

Avionics were simplified to bare minimum. Seriously. No autopilot, no second comm, everything very basic VFR.

The airplane was equipped with extra long range tanks, for a total of ~ 125 gallons available.

I can’t recall the empty weight, but with the Wipline 3800 pound gross weight, the plane had over 1200 pounds useful, or more.

This airplane wound up a bit austere, but what a performer.

MTV

Now that's serious business there. I guess I am willing to spare old stuff, maybe even the autopilot (my Kap150 likes being inop most of the time anyway), will try to keep the electric trim though. I'll redo the interior but again a humble approach will be the goal. Is vinyl the lightest material for redoing seats?. Also, can you recall the weight loss when going from articulated seats to fixed ones?. My 206 has the Wips4000 amphibian floats so they are like 50lbs more heavy than the 3450's, but I can still top at 3800lbs max gross with aprox 950lbs useful. It seems to me that these birds gain weight with the pass of time but I can't isolate where from.

Oh man, those big Wip amphibs are HUGE! And HEAVY! The 206 I was talking about was on 3450 Wip amphibs, which are also legal at 3800 on a G.

The purpose of that airplane was survey work. Never carried more than two, no back seats. No worries if anything singing a skin cause there was rarely anything other than a couple duffles in back. Not a very practical plane for most, but.

The articulating seats are really heavy. I don’t recall the weight difference to plain seats, but it was quite a lot. Those seats were done with confor foam and were very comfortable. I learned to hate the damn roll pins in those articulating seats anyway.

I’d go to straight seats in a heartbeat.

MTV

I swapped out the fixed co-pilot seat for a fully-articulating seat so I can fly from that position without having to swap the front seats. I'm 6' 3", and my headset was up against the headliner when I sat in the fixed co-pilot seat. That was uncomfortable, and also made a sight picture that was wildly different from what I'm used to in the left seat, cranked all the way down. The fully articulating seat that was put into the copilot position weighs 28.4 lbs. (yeah, heavy) compared to the 5 or 6 lbs. for the fixed one. But I've lost more than 20 lbs. since I bought the airplane, so it kind of evens out.

Yeah, seat height will vary with different people. I’m used to flying airplanes that I can’t see over the nose on ground, so sitting low doesn’t bother me.

But, straight seats are an easy way to lose some weight, then have them rebuilt to your height specs.

MTV

mtv wrote:
Oh man, those big Wip amphibs are HUGE! And HEAVY! The 206 I was talking about was on 3450 Wip amphibs, which are also legal at 3800 on a G.

The purpose of that airplane was survey work. Never carried more than two, no back seats. No worries if anything singing a skin cause there was rarely anything other than a couple duffles in back. Not a very practical plane for most, but.

The articulating seats are really heavy. I don’t recall the weight difference to plain seats, but it was quite a lot. Those seats were done with confor foam and were very comfortable. I learned to hate the damn roll pins in those articulating seats anyway.

I’d go to straight seats in a heartbeat.

MTV

Yup! I wish I had the 3450's, but what a hefty price for them!. I'd also like to have the water support you have up there here, then I'd could certainly go with straight floats. Down here in Chile you are on your own when you're not on an airfield, and then some. Aerocet's are getting good reps and are not that expensive, time will tell what I'll do with those 4000s, given the chance.

My articulating seats were weighted at 24.1 lbs about 26 years ago, so they might as well be well over that by now with dirt and all that disgusting stuff that tends to reside in them. I am about to go for a new interior and I'll evaluate going to fixed seats. As I've read here in other topics, most of us seem to find the sweet spot and never adjust them again anyway, and if not, height-cushions could do for a new pax. It seems a reasonable thing to do if I'll be shedding some 15-20 pounds of non-diet weight. I'd like a solid structure though, and I tend to think of light seats as a bit flimsy ones, here is when all your experiences in this forum comes very handy.
The second row seats weighted then 14.8 lbs each, and the third row ones made it at 9.8 lbs each.

@A1Skinner, I can´t find your post, do you have a link? Seems definitely interesting

A1Skinner wrote:https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/p206a-mummy-restoration-20916

Thanks! very interesting and will follow closely indeed.

I've read many topics here about reducing weight with the batteries, starters and alternators. Most of those are por Super Cubs, Huskies and 180/185s or 12v. Does anyone have experience with this kind of weight reduction on a 24v 206?

There are lightweight starters available for the Continental in your 206. Before you leap, there is a good thread on these pages about combinations of propellers, starters, starter adapters, mag condition and timing, etc., that can increase the risk of a starter adapter failure. Starter adapter failures at the worst can cause oil contamination and engine failure. Ensure that the circumstances of your installation place you in a low risk situation. I chose to stay with the heavy starter because I’m unsure of my starter adapter style, and have a MT propeller that offers a low polar moment of inertia.

Light weight alternator is a choice I made, and I’m happy, although I’ve heard reports of lessened reliability since Hartzell took over Plane Power production.

The 24V battery for the 206 is a beast. You could investigate whether two 12V Odyssey batteries in series are a viable option. I’ve heard of it, and seen photos of dual firewall mounted 12V batteries in series. The basis of eligibility will depend on your mechanic and the regulations in your jurisdiction. I’m unclear if you are US or Chilean registered.

Thanks for the reply Pinecone. In your experience, how much weight can I shed with the starter?. As for alternators I contacted Hartzell and the reply I got was for one almost the same weight as the one I already have, thought I could be missing something.

Battery wise it seems there's no gain even if I could jump two Odyssey's SBSJ16 (14lbs) as the end result would be the same as the current Concorde or Gills (29lbs), but have to check which one I have installed when able, maybe I'll do reduce weight either way.