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How long until...

AL_O_Dine

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For those who built in their home garage:

At what point did you finally HAVE to move it to a hangar?

And from that point, how long did it take until first flight?

I'm curious, because some people are taking 5+ years building. And if you are renting hangar space for the whole build, at say $300/month, that eats up $18,000 right there.

Ouch.
 
I had everything done that I could do at home, I even fit the wings and rigged the ailerons and flaps. The tail was completely done and installed. I then moved it to the airport, at that point it took about a month the get it ready for the DAR inspection. I flew it 2 days later.

I found it much easier to work at home, as soon as I moved to the airport it took It took longer to get to the airplane to work on it and I sometimes forgot a tool or part and had to make 2 trips to the airport.

The other thing to consider is hangar availability, you might have to get a hangar early so you'll have it when you need it.
 
Very similar to Sam, I built and fitted everything in the garage, took it to the paint shop and from paint shop directly and for the first time to the hanger. My first flight was approximately two weeks later.
Building in the garage is one way to cut that 5+ years to a far shorter time. My first one took 11 months to build and second one is hoping to be done in 12 months pending back order parts.

Good luck with your build.
 
RV-10. Started in the garage Aug 2007; first flight May 2011. Moved to hangar Feb 2010. (I was planning on moving about 4 months later than that, but a ‘too good to pass up’ deal came along). Small two car garage, sloped, tree-lined driveway. No way to fit wings at home. I think I could have hung the engine (awkward access, the nose would be in a corner) at home, I definitely could have worked on avionics at home (this meant buying them then, increasing the chance of having a new airplane with out-dated avionics). I’m happy with the way it worked out.
Here at LVK working at a tie-down is frowned on. e.g., against the rules but not enforced for little operations. I don’t know what they’d say about hanging wings.
 
I kinda wish I would have kept my hangar, or at least found another airplane to share the rent. Instead I gave it up and now I'm at the bottom of the list.

At least I'm saving the hangar rent and I probably am two years away from bolting on the wings but still its another problem to solve.
 
For me, it was just under 2y5m in the garage, then another 4+ months in the hangar before first flight ... but, I could have reduced the time in the hangar by 1-2 months by finishing all the fiberglass work in my garage. Very little _needs_ to be done in a hangar. I had rented a hangar 8 months early to store the wings, and to make sure I had a hangar when I needed one, so I had some flexibility.

_Alex
 
Garage to Hangar

We moved to our Hangar with all components completed on 30 March. Assembled during April and first flight on 1 May. Phase one complete and waiting for paint shop to call.
 
I was 27 days from move to hangar to first flight.
I had everything I could complete done at home.
Wings temporarily put on and flaps and ailerons rigged.
All I did at the hangar was mount the wings, wire wings to fuse,
Fuel calibration, first engine run, and W&B.
 
I just bought a project at QB stage. I have a two car garage in which I already do a bunch of other stuff (it's a wood shop as well as an exercise space). Now I'm building the airplane there as well. Fortunately I have access to another storage space to hold the stuff I'm not actively working on.
In my area (SF Bay Area) hangar space waiting lista are several years long. I've put my name at three airports, and if I'm offered a hangar at any of them I'm going to take it, whatever the stage of my build. Otherwise I just don't see how I'm ever going to be able to get a hangar.

Another option is to get everything built in the garage and then find someone with hangar space willing to allow me to use for final assembly and from which to fly off the test phase, then store the airplane at a tie-down thereafter. California weather being what it is, this might not be a terrible option.

Open to comments/suggestions.

-c
 
There's really no reason to move to the hangar until *everything* is done other than hanging the wings the final time.

You'll make so much better progress in your garage because all of your resources (food, bathroom, a comfy chair, information, all of your tools, etc) are at hand. Once you move to the airport, one or more of those things (tools, in particular) seem to bog you down.

Besides, it is difficult for most people to casually visit the hangar nearly as easily as it is to just walk out to the garage. Say you know you need to order bolts from Aircraft Spruce. If the airplane is 20' away in the garage, getting the quantity and size right is a piece of cake. If the airplane is in the hangar 20 miles away, ain't as easy. That kind of thing costs you a ridiculous amount of time once you move to the hangar.
 
There's really no reason to move to the hangar until *everything* is done other than hanging the wings the final time.

Yes. But for some of us timing is an issue. If hangar waiting lists are years long, you just have to throw your name in asap and hope things work out, timing-wise.
 
Yes. But for some of us timing is an issue. If hangar waiting lists are years long, you just have to throw your name in asap and hope things work out, timing-wise.

You can have a hangar at the airport AND have the project at your house. Even if there are requirements around certain things, like aviation usage for the hangar. Store the flaps, ailerons, elevators, and other finished parts at the airport if you need to to qualify for aviation use.

In the meantime build at home.
 
You can have a hangar at the airport AND have the project at your house. Even if there are requirements around certain things, like aviation usage for the hangar. Store the flaps, ailerons, elevators, and other finished parts at the airport if you need to to qualify for aviation use.

In the meantime build at home.

Agreed. I plan to do the build as much as possible at my home garage. I'm just echoing what others have said about the cost of the hangar. If I get offered a hangar tomorrow I'd take it. I'll just have to eat the cost of the hangar fees for the next couple years until I get the project to a stage ready to move to the airport.
 
Six weeks from the move to first flight. Most everything done in the garage.

The hangar was almost all final assembly of finished parts, but in the hangar, I finished the fiberglass tail tips, finished up the already fitted cowl and final items for wing install such as the last fuel line and the wing root fairings.

Then calibration of fuel and first engine start, followed by the FSDO inspection.
 
It all depends

I live in a rural area, and own, not rent, a hangar at a rural airport. I only keep my stuff in there, so no sharing space with others that might get mad at me for leaving aluminum shavings on the floor. I like having it in a hangar, it’s a way to get away from the house and all of the other distractions and interruptions that are there. I I also store a 172 in there, and it’s heated and sort of air conditioned, so it’s a decent hangout if I don’t really want to build but just play, and I don’t feel like I’m “wasting” otherwise useable space on a collection of aluminum that doesn’t fly. If I need to work on my car or lawn mower, I take it there, can be kind of annoying and a downside. Most of the time, home improvement tools don’t cross paths with airplane tools, but not always, so that’s a downside to my method too. Probably doesn’t work for most, but another way to think about moving things to the airport, especially for those who are worried about getting a spot. I should mention it’s a 5 minute drive from my house to the hangar, this method probably doesn’t work as well if it’s 30+ minutes away.
 
Spent eight years building in my garage. Bought a hangar in Jul '14 and aircraft moved to airport. Aircraft flew Apr '15.
 
Very similar to Sam, I built and fitted everything in the garage, took it to the paint shop and from paint shop directly and for the first time to the hanger. My first flight was approximately two weeks later.
Building in the garage is one way to cut that 5+ years to a far shorter time. My first one took 11 months to build and second one is hoping to be done in 12 months pending back order parts.

Good luck with your build.

Same here. I did everything plus paint in the garage. I assembled the 6A on the ramp in about 2 weeks. Wings went on the first day, so securing wasn't an issue. The 10 I did in a hanger (winter) and about 1 month to first flight.

I did wing fitting on the driveway to help with prep and then disassembled.

I did not want the hassle of having to go to the airport to work on the build.
Larry
 
I did the final assembly of my 6A on the ramp at BTR in Baton Rouge. My FBO owner was a warbird rebuilder and very sympathetic. He would open the gate allowing me to drive through with my trailered plane components. I continue to store and maintain my plane on the ramp. When they closed my FBO, I jumped through a few hoops and got an ID that allows me to drive through the keypad operated gate with my truck. I triple cover my canopy and carry an RV generator for electricity. I'm parked in a public area with 0 rent. After almost 9 years I've been fortunate. The amount I've saved in hanger rent is close to what I spent building the plane. John
 
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How frowned upon by airports is it if you can't get a hangar and want to hang the wings on the ramp?

Most city-owned airports frown on any significant work on the ramp. Some are worse than others with their lawyers, insurance companies etc. but I don't think most go out of their way to catch you bending the rules a bit as long as you're discreet. Bolting the wings onto an RV-14 with a helper or two is fast and simple as long as you prepare well, probably less than an hour, and if you do it on a quiet Sunday evening..... :)
 
Check out the rules. Our local airport recently cracked down on guys renting hangars for non-aviation uses. This included storing abandoned kit planes and damaged aircraft. Basically management only wanted airworthy aircraft in the hangars. There was no issue for a few months of final assembly of a kit with the end in sight. Because the waiting list was years long, most of us renters agreed with freeing up hangars for flying airplanes.
 
...There was no issue for a few months of final assembly of a kit with the end in sight. Because the waiting list was years long, most of us renters agreed with freeing up hangars for flying airplanes.

Again timing may be a b*tch. What are the odds that after being on the waiting list for years and spending as many years building your plane that the final assembly and the hanger offer will happen within a few months of each other?

Our local airport has a cover area designated for maintenance activities. I guess that can be an option for me when final assembly comes.

-c
 
That brings up another question.

That would totally suck if you finished the plane and it sat in your garage for 3 years or more before hangar space became available. Ughhh

I can see the Classified Ad now…98% completed airplane for sale. Can't find hangar space.
 
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Same here. I did everything plus paint in the garage. I assembled the 6A on the ramp in about 2 weeks. Wings went on the first day, so securing wasn't an issue. The 10 I did in a hanger (winter) and about 1 month to first flight.

I did wing fitting on the driveway to help with prep and then disassembled.

I did not want the hassle of having to go to the airport to work on the build.
Larry

Same here built the plane in the garage, trial fitted and rigged the wings one at a time in the garage and then both wings in the driveway, used store bolts and saved the close tolerance bolts for final assembly at airport. Built mine over 5 years largely working weekends due to work travel most weeks. Hangar was a 45 min drive so not easy to just "pop" over to work on the RV, but did have a hangar that could fit my Pacer and the RV. Finished the RV about a month after moving it to the hangar. The advantage of the garage was the ability to do something however small every time you went out there and the motivation of seeing the project take shape every time I went through the garage to drive somewhere.
Figs
 
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