The RV-8 has front and rear baggage compartments, to help in keeping the centre of gravity where you want it. You put the heavy stuff in whatever compartment you need to. I started working on the front baggage compartment today. It is is right behind the firewall, over top of where the pilot's feet are. On the right side, there is a 14 inch deep well that extends all the way down to the floor. The baggage compartment is about 14 inches from front to rear, and about 14 inches high in the centre.

The baggage compartment floor and the deep well at the right side are removable so you can do maintenance in the rudder pedal area by sticking your head into the baggage compartment. So, that means I've got to install another gazillion nut-plates :-( That'll keep me busy for a couple of nights.

 


Here we are looking forward from the cockpit area. The large semi-circular piece of unpainted aluminum is the back wall of the baggage compartment. Below it, to the right ahead of the landing gear box, we can see the deep well in the baggage compartment.