Empty weight concerns
 

Hello All,

I'm heading out soon for a pre-purchase inspection on a 337A. Nice airplane with reasonably recent avionics upgrades. I'm trying to figure out why the w/b EW is nearly 3000 lbs when they left the factory at closer to 2650. Where the heck is this thing gaining 350lbs? I showed my avionics shop the panel and equipment lists. Not much to remove to gain much because it's relatively new stuff. I might loose 20-30lbs by gutting the avionics. I spoke to my mechanic and showed him pictures of the interior. Again not a huge amount to loose there too. Sounds like if I gut the thing avionics and interior I'd be only gaining maybe 50-70 lbs useful load and have an airplane that I don't want. It doesn't help that the GW is 4200 on the 337A. So what's going on? Where to look in the pre-buy? Anybody else have this issue and re-weigh the airplane. Some have speculated that there could be up to 100 lbs of dirt and debris in the belly, or that perhaps calculated W/B errors over time has added up... Others have told me Cessna lied on the W/B which seams pretty unbelievable to me. My 206 wasn't off. Especially not 350 lbs. What's your 337A EW?

My C model is currently 2931 E/W. The original EW out of the factory was 2835 so I have gained 100 pounds with new interior, paint, avionics, mods, ............

When was the last W&B done on the plane? Could be some errors over the years in calculations. But I don't think that it's off by much.

The C model is GW at 4400 so that helps my useful

I would want to review the W&B revisions first before the pre-buy

Thanks. I'll take a close look. I haven't seen the W/B history just the current W/B. Considering your C is similar in weight it may not be far off. If I'm reading the history correctly the A's should be pretty close in empty weight to the C's

1966 337A MTweight
 

I had a look at the W&B on my my 337A, it is 2878lbs - IFR fit, mostly older, heavy stuff. Original interior, good paint, few mods; strobes, airwolf filter kit, gear door deletion. No boots, no stol, no droop tips - stock aircraft.
Jeff