moving seat

[tiketyboo]

hi
does anyone have any experience in moving the seat of a taylorcraft bc12 d back about 3 or 4", i had my knee replaced and of course the operation did not go well and am limited to about 20 minutes in the taylorcraft due to having to bend my knee, i also fly a pathmaker which is a more reclined position and i can fly ofr hours, and am wondering what are the ramifications of moving the seat back so that my knee is not so bent.
i love flying the tcraft and would really prefer to fly it than sell it but right now unless i can fix the seat problem i will have to sell it.
tony

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: moving seat

I can really relate. I have broken both of my knees and injured my back in the past. What amazes me is you could even GET IN the Taylorcraft with a broken knee! This is the time when it might be perfect to look at one of the "Experimental" Taylorcrafts that are out there. I don't know how you could modify the ~46 seats or mounts to move you back, but on an Experimental you could weld in a fuselage extension and build a tube door that was about 3" longer. Some time back we were talking about how we would change the basic BC-12 if we were to start building them again and some of the most asked for changes were a couple of inches of width in the cockpit and a longer door front to rear. Just a couple of inches would let you stretch out your legs and make it MUCH easier to get in and out.
It would be a lot of design work and a GREAT project that might even become the pre-prototype for a new version. Going to take some design engineering to build it and a donor fuselage. Anyone have a fuselage with a damaged cockpit section?
Hank

[Marv]

Re: moving seat

Would letting the seat canvas out and making the seat lower help you? I do not know about moving the seat back due to the CG etc. Marv

[tiketyboo]

Re: moving seat

tried taking out the back of the seat to move me back, it was a bit better but dammed hard on the back, smile but need more than that. there are only 3 bars involved, and the one at the back bottom of the seat can probably stay.
i basically might go ahead and do it but was trying not to reinvent the wheel if some one had already done it. also might have to re cover part of the fuselage due to welding needs etc.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: moving seat

The tube going across your shoulder blades is a primary structural load carrier. You can't just cut it out and move it back. That would be a MAJOR structural mod and the Feds would turn your plane into a lawn ornament without a full structural analysis.
I am pretty sure someone did modify a Taylorcraft to use Cessna type sliding seats but have never even seen a picture of it.
Before you cut anything you need to see if someone has done anything similar before and make sure the Feds will let you do it again. Even if you want to be the first, get the Feds to buy into it before you modify anything!
Hank

[Forrest Barber]

Re: moving seat

The F-22 had the bar removed got drawings. I even have a fusealge . She had the sliding seats, bigger door too!

[Pearson]

Re: moving seat

I saw a BC12D once that still had the cross bar, but had a modified seat so that the effect was you sat a couple inches farther back. Basically what the guy did was built the seat below the bar so that he could move it toward the rear. He had some padding wrapped around the bar. He said you could feel the bar on your back, but it wasn't uncomforable. He had welded a piece of angled steel across the tube so that one side of the angle was vertical to the rear of the tube. He then attached the upper edge of the seatback to this portion of the angled steel. He moved the seat back rearward about 1.5 to 2 inches. I don't know if it is really worth all that trouble, but this guy seemed to really like it. I wish I had taken pictures.

I know after ten years I experimented with my seat by unrolling the piece of wood at the front edge of the sling a half turn. Now I can look out the sides without having to duck my head under.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: moving seat

Forrest,
Where did they add in tubes to carry the side loads across the fuselage? In a side slip touchdown the gear is going to put a pretty big side load one way and the inertial loads from the wing the other. What keeps the fuselage cabin from "wracking" to the side and collapsing?
However they did it, it would be a great place to start for the kinds of mods the next model or an experimental would need.
It would be nice to use that fuselage to build a fixture! New ones could be a great basis for experimentals.
Hank

Did they by any chance widen the fuselage a tad at the shoulders too? A couple of inches would go a LONG way towards adding comfort!

[Forrest Barber]

Re: moving seat

Will shoot some pictures, the drawings are all here along with the engineering done by Darrell Romick , it was approved way back as the F-22 with Flaps, better seat belts, bucket seats, all truss member loads are here and I did the initial flight with her and a lot of the subsequent tests.
Remember I have the four place fuselage here AND the ship called the "picture frame" fuselage that had 4 in wider at door post and shoulder area too! I will take camera out in the cold tomorrow..... have to ship some fabricated ribs today.