Baggage floor

 I want a 4 person airplane... well, kinda.  I want the ability to take 4 people (even 3 will do).  Basically more than 2.  BUT, I want the ability to take stuff.  Stuff like camp gear, folding bike, suit cases, etc.  My sportsman will be a traveling machine, whether that is to go up north, or just see the country.  I want flexibility.

So that means I need rear seats, and some kind of floor.  Originally I was contemplating mounts that I could strap stuff down to the floor (which is the inner skin of the fuselage), but its not flat.  That would be a constant pain.

Well, a fellow Sportsman owner put a pic of his solution on the Glasair Forum.  

Take out the rear seat bottoms, and then the baggage floor is two pieces.  The aft piece from the seat bulkhead to bulkhead A is fixed.  The forward piece from the seat bulkhead to the seat back is hinged.

Zach Chase (Fibertech Composites) builds the rear floors.  You give him the dimensions, and he makes it slightly larger, and you cut to fit.

I sketched out the dimensions, and sent to Zach

Here are the two pieces provided by Zach.

The pieces are fiberglass (not carbon) with blank pigment resin.  Looks cool.

Because they are to big, I need to cut them down.  This will NOT be the fun part.

I recreated my original dimensions on the floor by first marking the centre line and working out.  The tape is so I can see the lines.

The cuts were actually a non event.  I weighed the floor down with weights when cutting so there was more restriction against the table saw.

Worked out well.  I should have extended the lines to account for the curve in the fuselage, which would have been close to 1/4".  But it now is what it is.  Can't change it.

Next step is to account for the fasteners that sit under the floor, and to make a small depression around them.  There are two on the forward bulkhead, and 4 on the aft foot rests.  The kids are too old, we no longer have any play-dough.  But I figure plumbers putty will work, but its cold in the shop and it needs to warm up a bit.  That will be a tomorrow project.

I created two tabs on each side forward that are tied into the bulkhead and the fuselage.  They started off as a 4 layer layup on a flat surface, then bonded to the underside of the bulkhead (clecoed in place) and the fuselage.  Once cured, two more layers of glass on top and bottom.  I don't think they are going anywhere.

For the aft mounts, when I made the footrests, I tied them into the centre tunnel, bulkhead A, and the floor (very similar to how Glasair does it) - but I made them a bit deeper horizontally (2").  That should give me a good surface to mount the aft portion of the floor.

I have bought a rivnut tool, and a bunch of rivnuts.  A whole new tool to play with.

Floor attached to the fuselage in 4 places.  Probably needs 2 more mid-span.

Rear floor bolted in place.

First cut to get the forward portion of the floor to fit.

For the hinges, after consulting with Zach I took out the foam around the hinges, with the intent to fill with a mixture of resin, cabosil and q-cell.  My plan is to mask off everything, support the floor upright, wax the clecos, and pour the mixture in and let it set (and hope nothing leaks).  This should really stiffen up the front around the hinges.  Without the foam, the fiberglass top is REALLY flimsy.

I still need to trim a little more off the forward portion of the floor, but am going to wait until after the hinges are reinforced so everything is nice and still.  The hinges are all drilled on the floor portion.

Forward portion of the floor with the foam cut out, hinges in place, and filled with resin / q-cell / cabosil.

This one is done, except that I need a few more rivets to finish the hinges, and the hinged section needs a bit of sanding as its rubbing slightly on the left side.  Oh, and a bit of touch up paint work is needed where the tabs were bonded.