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Building advice

alwaysoutdoor

Active Member
I am hopeful that this may help someone who is about to start the building process

I am on my 3rd Rv-7. The rv-7 is extremely easy to build if you enjoy building: I found out early on that I enjoyed building just as much as flying. Don’t think of it as an airplane until you have the paperwork signed in your hands- think of it as lots of little fun tasks that you get to be lucky enough to be a part of. As a young adult I had all the time in the world after work, between classes, on weekends, before parties, in the middle of the night, etc. so I got a little carried away with putting too much time in on the project. I finished the tail in just a few weeks but probably was only sleeping 3-4 hours a night and my 4.0 gpa turned into a 3.6 almost instantaneously.

The big mistake I had with my first plane is that I didn’t budget anything. I was being a perfectionist and wanted top notch everything so I quickly realized I had to sell it before I had to drop out of college. (I really was at the point where it was “finish the last 2 years of college or buy the extremely expensive avionics I was drooling about” ): still don’t know if I made the right choice ;-).

The second rv-7 I built was a few years after college. Still no kids and no wife. I did it the opposite way completely when it came to money- I tried to get everything I wanted in a plane but wanted to build it where I could actually afford it. I bought everything I could second hand (which ended up to be just about everything) and budgeted everything like a crazy person. I ended up finishing it with a 0 time smoh engine and beautiful Harley Davidson copper/orange and black paint and glass panel for just under 45K... this plane would have cost about 90K-95K going with brand new kit and components (searching classified ads, barnstormers, and PMing people on this site really makes that much of a difference)... saved me 45K over the 2 year build process.

I made myself only work on it 1 weekend day a week so I still had a life with dating and hanging with friends after work.. I put in 18-20 hours in that 1 day though and think I pissed off the local wildlife by riveting early in the morning and past 2am as well. Never lost a chicken to the owls, coyotes, raccoons, or bobcats on those nights!

Now I have 2 young kids (1yo and 4yo) and sold that plane last summer after flying it for about 6 years and bought into a partnership in a 182. After buying part of the 182 last year and flying it I said to my wife “I am just gonna search around for the next few years and see if there is a abandoned rv-7 kit somewhere so maybe our kids and I can build something together someday”. She was supportive until I immediately found an rv-7a kit online and said I had to do a 25 hour drive to go pick it up before someone else buys it. I convinced her it was something we needed for the family and I promised I wouldn’t neglect everything in our lives to build this one. I got a completely un opened 2006 rv-7a kit including the finish kit for $12,500 from a very nice old timer who wasn’t flying anymore and was about to sell his hanger (will be investing in buying or trading nose gear parts for the 3rd wheel to be in the right spot!).

Now building this one we are taking our sweet *** time on it and get about 30 minutes to an hour a week, at most, building! (most likely will be a 9-12year build). Most days when we have build time I get my 4 year old boy out in the shop and before I even turn the lights on we are headed off to bother the chickens, play in the mud pit in the garden, or throw rocks into the river instead :). My life sure has changed! The only thing constant is everyone always knows I’ll have a rv-7 project going!

Tips for people
- these planes are fun to build but can get addictive.
- make sure you know your personality before you start
-if you want to give up, sell your kit super cheap to someone on this site
- every time you cook - make extra so you can eat the leftovers while building
-if you want to save money get good on the World Wide Web
-sleep is sometimes more important than 4 hours of deburring
- Know what kind of plane you want and can afford before you start
-don't sell your rv-7 too early if you have kids (you probably won’t need a 4 seater until both kids are at least 4 years old)
-take breaks to go to the bathroom, eat food, study for a test, or sleep at least once a day.
-when you promise something to yourself, or your wife, make sure you stick to it by setting a timer so you aren’t late or buying her a present from Wyoming so when you arrive home after 50 hours of driving in 3 days and can’t watch the kids till after a nap she will thank you instead of being pissed.

[Inserted paragraph breaks so this excellent post is easier to read; S.Buchanan]
 
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Fun story

My experience was that my kids - who were 2 and 4 when I started - loved to hang out in the shop for about an hour every day but that was about it. Not a very productive hour for me on the airplane, but excellent memories. They are 18 and 20 now and I'm waiting for my final inspection!

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Congratulations on finishing! I barely remember my first flight- it was almost an out-of-body experience flying a machine that you built yourself! I do remember that I had the best landing I still have ever had in an rv. Don?t know why, just lucky on the first try I guess.
 
I like everything you said except for the 30 minute time limit. It takes me that long just to set up the factory in my garage because when I?m not building it belongs to the wife's car. My current build is going in sprints not marathons.
 
Good Prioritization Skills

I really liked your write up. I too have experienced a lot of the same things along the way. Forgetting to eat, sleep or bathe is easy to do; especially early on in the build. My story started in 2011, when I began building an RV-10 for me and my family. That same year, we had our first child, then in 2014 another. I'm still building on my project after 9 years and probably will be building for another 3 to get it flying. While I feel like my priorities are correct (wife, kids, family, house first, then plane), it doesn't make it any easier seeing my project in the garage every day, knowing that I can't put any significant hours into it right now.

Everyone with a family should go into this build process with open eyes, a selfless disposition and a patient understanding that it will take longer than you want it to, if you don't want any collateral damage.

P.S. I haven't prioritized keeping my "Kitlog" build log up to date in a while, so if anybody was watching that, tough cookies. I figure it's better to build a beautiful plane than to build a beautiful builder's log.. :)
 
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