[WebMaster]

My plane came with one when I bought it, but it was off. This spring we had it put on. It is a massive job, has a ton of screws, will hold 300#, has a negligible affect on CG., and I don't notice a difference in speed. There is a difference in single engine climb. On front engine only, you notice not much climb left. That was consistent with what Cessna reported when the created it. One thing on my plane that I have not seen on others is a longer breather hose, that dumps the stuff to the bottom of the cargo pod, lessening the chance that you'll get engine goop (that's a technical term) on the inside of the pod. Mine is sealed with RTV Black, it is a good seal. No leaks. I used to store my tie down stuff in a bag at the back of the plane, it's now in the pod. It will hold an amazing amount of stuff. Make sure it is soft sided, because, at least on my plane, there's an antenna on the belly that is inside the pod. Not certain what the antenna is for, but there is no difference in how the radios all work.

About gross weight. Mine says 4500 max take off, and 4400 max landing. I have been at max takeoff. I don't know about other years. Mine is a 69.

Oh, the reason for not taking it off, is because it's a big job. To put it on, you have to balance and raise it with a couple of floor jacks. You have to keep it perfectly aligned to make it fit, and it's big. It's also semi flexible. At least on the floor, waiting to be put on. If you take it off, you have to do the same thing, then clean all the RTV off. Significant amount of time involved.

As Lin and Chachi both have said, a gear up with a cargo pod on limits the damage to the airplane. I also opinion that on a soft field, you'll get less damage to the rear prop from the front prop, because the pod really is close to the ground, about the same as the prop.

Oh, we went to the trouble of putting ours on because we routinely take out one of the middle seats, and put the dog cage there. We put in one of the last row seats, so we can hold 4 people and the dog. After that, there isn't much room for luggage.