After many mods, some adding weight and some losing weight, I just dropped of my plane at the local ISU Vo-Tech School of Aviation to see what it weighs NOW. A great resource for us SE Idaho pilots, they do excellent work there and it is always great to see the enthusiasm the students have. And yes, they are well guided by the very knowledgeable instructors, most of whom I know.

Anyway, my S-7S weighed 742 when "new", on stock gear with 8:00's tires ( ) since then I added Robert's gear with the RAGE shock struts, a 3 gallon header tank, and the biggie: 29" Airstreaks.

BUT, I also got a EarthX battery, and a very simple all new all digital carbon panel. I believe (hope anyway ) I have one of the lighter S-7's. we'll see. Options include an aft baggage external door, a main baggage area lined with aircraft plywood, a fuel transfer pump, and of course VG's.

My official guess is 762 lbs. All fuel drained, oil and coolant still in.

758 Tom...I like these games...

AKT

I'm in. 767#

CW

769....... Hope its less!!!!

I'm in at 756.

785

Courierguy wrote:

BUT, I also got a EarthX battery, and a very simple all new all digital carbon panel

Panel Pic please

776 pounds

752!

748...

75.....1!

762 [emoji3]

Got Miss Piggy weighed and just flew it home. 791 lbs inc. ELT, Swiss muffler, SAT radio installation, and a couple small ditty bags. More then I had hoped but they claim at the school their scales are certified and correct,

By the time I load it up with the mountain bike, camping gear, tool kits, survival gear, 35 gallons of fuel, me, and the bike trailer, I am up to 1260. This leaves a legal payload when otherwise fully equipped, of 60 pounds. No fat girls obviously. The good thing is I know I made every effort to keep the weight down, or else it would have been worse! The other good thing is I have the gear and tires I want, and that right there is around 40 or 50 lbs as compared to the stock gear and small tires, screw that. So...it is what it is. My T-Craft BC12-D weighed 790 as I recall, for some comparison.

I did this just to keep it real when talking about empty weights, it was a good wake up call for me, and maybe a reminder for you guys building to do all you can to keep it down.

That's about right the way you're setup. I don't believe the #700 S7S stories out there...maybe the old short tail...maybe.

Hmmmm,.... Why not go to one blade to save weight ?

Man, I was way off.

Tom wrote:785

Tom, I have to apologize, when I saw your guess, I thought "how dare he!" Ha ha, I never dreamed you'd be low, while also being the highest guesser. Well done sir.

Just like us they gain weight with age, even if you try and keep it under control. When I did my cub I shot for 1100 but wasn't going to go crazy to make it. I just wanted to be as light as I could be. I think if you have that mindset in building and re building, you will do ok. A lot of these weights I don't believe for a second. It's nice to weigh before you start doing "light weight mods" so your 700lb airplane on paper that's really 800lbs and after the mods you end up with 750 and your mad that with the light weight stuff you gained 50 lbs. or what ever your real weights were.

My Kitfox 5 Outback started life at 724 or so the papers say, it is now at 782 and I have done most everything to put her on a Diet, Oh well I once weighed under 200 but that was over 40 yrs ago [emoji3]

Well..... I felt a little better when I blasted off ( way at the "wrong" end of the giant paved and controlled airstrip at KPIH, such a contrast to my place) out of in front of the Vo-Tech school and was at pattern altitude in less then a minute, quite a bit less, 45 seconds or so, 6 K density altitude. I had hoped it was lighter, but I have no complaints in the performance arena. One person here locally in SE Idaho, who will remain unnamed, has theorized a SINGLE seat S-7, same proven wing, but an all out purpose built bird, around 500 lbs has been mentioned. Minor thread drift: the BigBore and the Prince Prop are working so damn good (another weekend flight with lots of climbs to over 11K with lots of gear, and a fuel burn of 3.75 GPH over 8+ hours non refueled) the thought of that power/thrust combo in a sub 700 or even 600 hundred lb. (I can't fathom 500 lbs.) bird makes my nipples hard

I still kick myself every time I look at my kit supplied plywood floorboards. Good plywood, not CDX Home Depot stuff, but not real fine many plied Finnish aircraft ply stuff, somewhere in between. Almost 3/8" thick, the stuff was heavy, I though of CF in place of the ply, but was too cheap and in too big a hurry. Probably could have knocked off 3 lbs at least. Fabric over the pass. seat instead of Lexan would have been lighter also. That reminds me, I do have the thicker/heavier plexi windshield, I really like it instead of the Lexan, but it weighs more. U also have the newer and heavier 26 gallon poly (immune to whatever) fuel tanks. The boot cowl on the S-7S is all glas', the short tails were fabric, several lbs right there, but I do like living with the heavier version better.

After the weigh-in, as I reloaded all the usual crap I carry all the time, much of it safety and emergency gear, I am taking a hard look at it, and so far have not thrown anything out. Most newer S7-S's are over 800 (I hope....) many well over, so I did OK I guess.

When I took the LSRM training we had an Interstate cadet to do a true no holds barred double throw down weight and balance on. The owner flew it in one morning and watched us do the work. We measured and weighed and weighed and measured. His W&B showed and empty weight of 79? or so. It was a nice airplane with an A65, no mods or electrics of any kind, a true restoration with ceconite and dope. A nice airplane. But it weighed more than a hundred pound over what he thought.


He stormed out of there cussing us and swearing that we didn't know what we were doing.

I think a guy could make a decent living doing W&B with some trick scales that would come up with a weight that the customer wanted.