Well on my last airplane camping trip I took one of my grand sons from the ranch to Smiley Creek then to his place in Mtn Green, UT. On flight from there to my place I ran into one of those unpublished speed bumps over the vast wasteland of Nevada. The ice chest got some air and it almost ended up in my lap.

The solution was to install a few extra nut plates in the floor of the 182. Straps now hold down the ice chest and I also installed a cargo net that I found on e bay. Cargo net is hooked to some d-rings that are bolted to existing nut plates.

I was going to get one of those cool net systems from that outfit in McCall but could never get a hold of them.



So now all the stuff in the back will be kept out of the front. Should this have been posted to a different forum.

Tim

Tim - FYI
The Lady in MCCall is no longer selling the heavy duty cargo nets.
Looks like a case of some folks not knowing the potential difference
between price and cost.

She had designed them years back when flying commercial 206 loads at all hours and Wx conditions.

I did the same nut plate and D-rings in my 170. Had box of secondary post "incident" supplies in back (included tailwheel assy. with axel and hardware, etc. and a 29 lb tool bag next to it, and fly ties all on floor. Two 6 packs of water. Tossed all the soft stuff on top.

Chris C

Yep that is who I called. Theirs is a lot better than mine but got no response.. I am very happy with the way mine turned out and it was much less. But I had the labor of installing nut plates in the floor.

I tried them too... no luck. I wonder if anyone else is going to step in to replace the void in the market.

Try these http://www.safaristraps.com/ http://www.safaristraps.com/ http://www.safaristraps.com/

Not to hard to come up with your own deal. Takes a little effort. I used all existing nut plates for the cargo net. For the cooler tie down I had to install the extra nut plates.

Tim

It looks like a really well built product, but with such a small market I'm sure he's making them one at a time in a converted corner of the hangar.

I bet designing them was a blast, and the first ten nets were probably fun to sew up. The next ten were probably rewarding, but after that it's just mindless repetition....measure, cut, sew, ship, repeat. Doesn't take too many hours of that before not answering emails sounds like a very good idea.

I made my own cargo net out of 1" climbing webbing. I laid it out and held it together with a few stitches, then took it to a seamstress for sewing. Afterwards I re-stitched all the webbing squares with 60lb test spectra fishing line. The top connections are climbing anchors bolted to the stock seatbelt attachment points, and the bottom connections are the Atlee Dodge folding seat rails. I rigged up a couple adjustable side attachments using whoopy slings attached to the rear seat anchors as well. I just use carabiners for the hardware...there's enough slack in the net to make them work.

It doesn't hang flat and pretty like mountainwave's does, but it holds cargo just as well, maybe better. A loose-hanging net will actually withstand greater forces before the attachments pull out, though by exactly how much I can't say.

I think these are a must-have for anyone hauling cargo, especially with the rear seat removed. I personally know of one avoidable death from flying cargo, and I'm sure there are many more. The BAS shoulder harnesses, survival vest, SPOT and helmet aren't going to do you any good at all if a 50lb cooler is plowing into your C3 at 40mph...

I found a 23.5" x 23.5" cargo net that works pretty good at http://www.safaristraps.com/1-polyester ... -5-x-23-5/ Not bad for $61.