Interesting discussion, this. To back up what Scott has said, (paraphrasing) "...so called identical homebuilts are likely to have quite different flight characteristics....", so comparisons are close to meaningless.

To wit, I'm still flying my early 235 (that first flew in '93 with the then standard small tail) and as far as I'm concerned, the flight characteristics are about as nice or nicer than anything else I've ever flown. Granted, if I feel a sneeze coming on, I definitely let go of the stick until it's past - but Hey! - small price to pay in my opinion.

Interestingly though, my 235 does have the bob-weight and the shortened elevator control horn attach - not in the plans of the day but insisted on by Don Goetz as a "must have" - so I've never flown the airplane without it. Perhaps my impression of the plane would be different without the bob-weight - who knows?

I also agree with Scott that flying with a slightly forward CG, as long as you have sufficient control authority and trim range in all flight regimes, particularly landing flare, seems to be a good thing. My nominal CG moved forward when I replaced the fixed wooden prop with a MT C/S unit and rather than move stuff aft to compensate, I flight tested with that in mind and liked it - so I left it as is.

Regards,

Dan Schaefer
N235SP --
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