Ed, mine was about that too... that's where it should be. (Don't give another thought to someones claim about a 9 lb plane wiht everything but engine it ain't so)

If you stick to single battery I think you should get it under 17 lbs... I still think mine would end up at 16.5...

I measured and found that you can get the cowl out to 7" away from the firewall... this gives about 1/16" overlap so you don;t see the F1 former. The cowl mounting blindnuts on the side will have to be pulled and moved to in front of former F1... And if you haven't poked the holes through it yet, you won't even know it was done.

This is a MUST do based upon reports of taiheavy planes.

Then install the ignition & battery on the firewall.

I'd also recommend drilling some material out of the landing gear block... there's a lot there just make sure you leave some meat where the screws for your tailwheel goes... which... BTW... toss the stock tailwheel and get another... superstar or as I did the Graphtec CF tailwheel.

Last thing to do is make sure you install the rudder servo as far forward as possible... yo should have no probelms achieving and adjusting CG with battery position from that point.

The stock wheels are fine and extremely light (tho DP has been TOLD that they don't hold up on asphalt)

Try them and replace them if they wear with harder ones.

Control horns... if you don;t already have them, look for lighter ones... maybe Chip Hyde's ball bearing control horns... very light and they come with clevises...

Just add a ball link to the servo horn and you're good to go.

-David