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An Unforeseen Journey

Bill Boyd

Well Known Member
That's been my life the past few years. The tightest twists in the road might lie behind me for now, but the loss of our home to fire this May was a bit of a lurching turn. It's been emotionally hard to live all summer near the gaping hole in the hilltop where our house stood the last 18 years, and irksome to reach for tools that are no longer there to do the myriad odd jobs on the farm, including airplane maintenance. Lots of possessions will have to be replaced, slowly, methodically, waiting on the claims to settle and the checks to come in.

Today, all that begins to change visibly. The precast basement was erected this morning, and it's so gratifying to see the place where our next RV will be built rising up from the clay. Beauty for ashes. Joy for mourning. Check it out! :)



 
They always say, "build on a good foundation". You've always had a solid foundation. Now you have concrete too :)
 
My parents dealt with it twice in 5 years. Lightning and a grease fire on the stove.

Material things matter not.
 
So... time to read the archives again!

I've read literally every post ( ! ) in the RV-10 archives within the last year, but life events have forced a temporary shift in research efforts. At this juncture, workshop planning must trump RV dreaming for awhile. Honestly, it's a blast and I'm having fun:) even with the modular home contractor urging me to get things nailed down in the next few days and weeks.

Faced with the first-world problem of far too many attractive choices (apologies to Warsaw-Pact comrades), the first part of my five-year plan is to agonize aloud here over lighting, wiring, perimeter insulation, plumbing, tool chests, benches, electric and air layout, 20-SEER HVAC splits, concrete floor finishes and compressor selection, to Harbor Freight or not to Harbor Freight, etc, etc, ad-nauseam. With a little help from my VAF friends, of course!

I've already made paper-doll cutouts, to scale, of the RV-10 and RV-14 in order to quantify which support piers in the basement had to be replaced with laminated beams to give me space to attach wings and apply paint within the 40x40 shop space. It's only money, right? My bride and step-kids are starting to grasp airplane builder's disease after watching me play with paper planes on top of Nationwide foundation blueprints. The upsized footers for the remaining beefier columns have already been dug and poured; the monetary commitment to the airplane factory has begun in earnest. There can be no turning back. This may turn into my own version of "flying saves time and money" :D:D

-Stormy
 
New build

Build it strong and straight and EXACTLY how you want it to be. Don't allow anyone (wife, architect, friends) dissuade you from getting exactly what you want in your garage/workshop. As far as the $$$, you may spend a little or a lot more than you want to but you can smile every day when you walk through your garage/workshop. I'll never forget the discussion that I had with my architect/engineer who wanted me to use wood beams and 4 vertical supports in my 2-1/2 car garage. He didn't get it that I wanted a place to build an RV. I'm only sorry that I didn't make it bigger.

Also, you have some experience with the kind of tools that you need - buy the good ones and don't go cheap.

Build on and enjoy - best of luck an skill to you.
 
Engineered lumber - wood I-beams and microlams - and steel are the creative architect's friend. My farmhouse is a testament to clear span and open space :)

You can definitely get the layout you want!
 
If you're bored and looking for retirement income...

...I might commission you to build me one of those stupendous tool carts you have, Smokey.

Otherwise, I will get on it myself as soon as time allows.

:D
 
Copy that.

Retired means I don't work.

You living in your hangar now?

Well, it feels like it sometimes. Actually crowded in Mom's guest bungalow across the field from the runway. Two bedrooms, one bath, two adults and two kids. It gets old, but it beats the hangar, which has no electric or water since the fire.

I'll build a clone of the justly-famous RonCo wheel-o-matic tool cart, and you can come judge my workmanship, okay?:D

-Stormy
 
Decision deadline #2

(First one passed a few weeks back, when I had to decide how much to spend on micro-lams and beefier footers to eliminate many of the posts in the basement that engineering wanted to locate about every six feet across the whole floor!)

Now I'm debating the whole outdoor wood furnace thing. Lots of good-looking units out there in the $8-10k range (thanks, EPA!) that a feller could feed twice a day and use to heat domestic hot water, the shop and garage floor, the pool, and as backup to the heat pumps. Or I could spend that allowance instead on upgrading to inverter-fed variable speed heat pumps in the 20 SEER range with 24 year warranties and the ability to do "splits" into every imaginable zone of the house and shop areas, with operational characteristics into the sub-zero OAT range and light enough draw that my backup genny wouldn't have to be the size of a locomotive to run them. As I ponder the care and feeding of a wood furnace twice a day in all weather and year round, I am feeling the wisdom of the rest of the fam, who don't want me to mess with it, or stick them with it if I'm laid up or away. Super-insulate and go high-efficiency electric/propane instead. I have till morning to let them know it I want trenching from proposed furnace in the yard to the basement, and high temp PEX loops in the concrete floors. For 18 years I've second guessed my decision NOT to have a wood burner, but once again it isn't looking that attractive when stared in the face, especially in light of compressor tech advances the past 5 years or so. (Kinda like wanting metal halide lights and then discovering these LED thingy's...)

What is the "hive consensus," here? I live in fairly temperate Virginia mountains with lots of firewood rotting on my hills. 59 years young, handy with a chainsaw, but prefer not to break a sweat too often.

-Stormy
 
There is nothing like the feel of a fire to warm the body and soul but it could be limited to the basement/man-cave area. A fireplace is horribly inefficient but a nice little wood burning stove... much better. Plus, that high-tech stuff breaks now and then. Plus, the wood burner could be fed by gas to get it started.

Best of both worlds!
 
(First one passed a few weeks back, when I had to decide how much to spend on micro-lams and beefier footers to eliminate many of the posts in the basement that engineering wanted to locate about every six feet across the whole floor!)

Now I'm debating the whole outdoor wood furnace thing. Lots of good-looking units out there in the $8-10k range (thanks, EPA!) that a feller could feed twice a day and use to heat domestic hot water, the shop and garage floor, the pool, and as backup to the heat pumps. Or I could spend that allowance instead on upgrading to inverter-fed variable speed heat pumps in the 20 SEER range with 24 year warranties and the ability to do "splits" into every imaginable zone of the house and shop areas, with operational characteristics into the sub-zero OAT range and light enough draw that my backup genny wouldn't have to be the size of a locomotive to run them. As I ponder the care and feeding of a wood furnace twice a day in all weather and year round, I am feeling the wisdom of the rest of the fam, who don't want me to mess with it, or stick them with it if I'm laid up or away. Super-insulate and go high-efficiency electric/propane instead. I have till morning to let them know it I want trenching from proposed furnace in the yard to the basement, and high temp PEX loops in the concrete floors. For 18 years I've second guessed my decision NOT to have a wood burner, but once again it isn't looking that attractive when stared in the face, especially in light of compressor tech advances the past 5 years or so. (Kinda like wanting metal halide lights and then discovering these LED thingy's...)

What is the "hive consensus," here? I live in fairly temperate Virginia mountains with lots of firewood rotting on my hills. 59 years young, handy with a chainsaw, but prefer not to break a sweat too often.

-Stormy

If you insulate it well enough two hair dryers will heat the whole place and you can power those with a solar array on that south facing roof! I'm thinking of covering the whole roof when the price is right. :cool:

 
I built my house using the same basement wall system as you back in 2003 with the intention of building an RV-7 someday. I'm in NC so it's not as cold as Virginia but I worked in the basement on the RV this past winter using only a free standing natural gas heater (Charmglow). The heater has a thermostat and cycled on and off as needed and kept my basement at a comfortable 70 degrees without additional insulation. 1400 square feet.
 
Two small Jotul wood stoves one up and a whold house generator instead.
Bill
 
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Go Solar

Bill,
You really should be considering solar. The cost per Kwh has come down dramatically.

The real issue in the solar decision is SREC. Solar Renewable Energy Credits.
I have a 5 Kwh system and save about $800 annually on my all electric house.
BUT...I receive checks from selling my SRECs to an aggregator for $350 per credit. I generate 7 credits per year. Thus $2450 in cash. So I am not spending money on energy in my house...I am making money.

You would need to talk with a solar contractor and find out what the situation is for you now in Virginia. My system is grandfathered into the WDC market for the sale of SRECs, so I get a great price.

Jim
 
Today is a big one

The three 14x60- foot house modules made the hundred mile trek from the factory on the backroads yesterday. Emergency widening of some of the driveway curves was necessary to keep the tractor-trailer rigs from toppling over. Whew! :eek:

After a bad O-ring on a huge crane cylinder left the monster cripplped and unable to swing the house units (shades of Morton Thiokol and Challenger) another leviathan was brought in to unload the counterweights which had shifted and jammed everything. Sensors were repaired, fly-by-wire computers were re-set, and all tested good. Today the crews are back, and house units are levitating. "Go flight!" :D




The guy in the black and white striped shirt, top pic, is the crane company owner. He flies an Extra 300 and asked permission to kick tires on my RV-6A while he was on site yesterday. He promises to come visit a fly-in some day.
 
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So wish I was not at work today

but I took yesterday off and gotta get back to salt mines. Yesterday's mechanical difficulties are no excuse! Wife's pix to the rescue.



Contractor says yesterday's malfunction came at the best possible time - before the "pick" started. If they'd had a unit on the cable when the O-ring went. it could've really set us back another two months while the demolished basement and house were re-built. Time to sweat-out the mission, I guess...

-Stormy
 
Heat

If you want to use wood, go with a wood stove supplementing some other heat source. The wood stove will keep your house warm and most days with one or two loads. And if you leave you can use the other heat source. I see you are 59, there will come a time when you won't feel like cutting wood for a outside boiler. Propane tankless water heaters work well for hot water needs and you will never run out of hot water with one. They don't use much electricity so a smaller whole house generator will keep the hot water coming when the current goes out.

Build your shop bigger than you think you will ever need! I have seen lots of farm shops and not one person has said " I wish I had made it smaller" but most all wished it was bigger.

Bill
 
truth, right there

Bill, I am 59, but don't plan on getting any older.

Not sure how that's going to work out, though :confused:

I already don't get off on chain-sawing and log splitting as much as I did five years ago. Rivet-setting is, I hope, a different matter altogether.
 
Time for some technical questions

The basement floor is poured and the HVAC is in. Soon they will hang drywall. The plan is to enclose everything we can, so that all the runs for electric, compressed air, lighting and HVAC are hidden. Time is upon me to figure out some engineering details, and of course the input of VAF's brightest minds is of the essence.


The 60x40 foot maw you see here will become a lounge, mechanical room, closets, and workshop. The shop floorspace will measure roughly 36x40. Should be large enough; we build RV's in one car garages if we have to, right?;) Ceiling height is between 8 and 10 feet, varying with the plenum build-outs for the HVAC duct and DWV plumbing.

I've tried to use the online lighting layout apps. Some don't play well with OS-X. After much web browsing, I believe I'm looking for about 100,000 total lumens well-distributed from multiple luminaries (between 50 and 80!) at a color temp of 5000K. I intend to go the LED route. Lorri despises fluorescent lighting and I want her to feel as at home as possible down here. With the homeowners insurance stroking the checks up to the policy limit, cost is not a primary concern (probably the only time in my life I will ever get to say that.) Ceiling will be white drywall, walls white or light beige drywall, and floor a light color epoxy (color suggestions welcome; I know- no flakes, so I can find my dropped rivets). If JonJay or any of the other lighting experts could give me a quick and dirty estimate of luminary quantity, spacing, and intensity, it would put me way ahead in the acquisition process.

Regarding electrical, we are just going to locate outlets everywhere, including a 220 for welder, etc. I'll include an overhead reel cord close to the center of the shop.

The space is well-insulated and will have its own ductless split HVAC unit.

The plan is to locate the compressor at the far end of the garage, about 75 feet from the center of the shop, indoors, but well away from all living space. My HVAC sub has bid the air lines as part of his total package with the modular home people, and he intends to run 1" black iron pipe into the shop and tee 3/4" from there, giving me a center overhead reel air drop and one on each of two opposite exterior walls, plus an outside air drop for spray painting in the driveway. My question is whether this material is a good choice vs copper or the plastic jacketed aluminum pipe I installed just before the fire happened (RapidAir 3/4" kit). Will rust contamination be an issue? The piping run from the compressor will go up, across and down to eliminate condensation trapping as much as possible. A remote power feed will allow the compressor to be turned on and off from inside the shop.

Thanks for any ideas anyone wants to throw out there. My research on these topics is anything but exhaustive, and I want to do this right - without overthinking it.

-Bill
 
If you put a good dessicant dryer on your air line close to the compressor (after a coalescing filter) you shouldn't have problems with rust as long as you keep up with the dessicant.

I am plumbing my shop with black iron pipe and don't expect problems. Mine will be exposed; since yours will be behind the drywall, why not use plastic tubing?
 
If you put a good dessicant dryer on your air line close to the compressor (after a coalescing filter) you shouldn't have problems with rust as long as you keep up with the dessicant.

I am plumbing my shop with black iron pipe and don't expect problems. Mine will be exposed; since yours will be behind the drywall, why not use plastic tubing?

Don't forget periodic low point vents to blow out any moisture that you might accumulate, no matter what your pipe material.
 
I'm certainly no expert, but I'm always looking for better/easier/cheaper alternatives, and a lot of new construction materials can be all of the above.

I'd probably prefer one of the alternatives, though I'd have a hard time paying for copper at today's prices. If everything was going to be run on the surface, where replacement/repair would be simple, the equation might be different.

Black iron does rust pretty easily. (Some of it will likely have rust on/in it when they install it.) Is the installer going to be able to maintain a continuous slope, so any condensate will flow to a drain point, and not puddle in the pipe? It probably won't rust through in the next 20 years, but it will continue to generate rust that will flake off with air flow.

You can always filter at the 'destination' end, but that would mean a filter at every drop.

In the end, would it be any more expensive to use something like PEX-aluminum, since installing rigid iron pipe is so labor intensive? It would minimize the number of joints (failure points for leaks, etc), and minimal risk of corrosion issues. I haven't looked at the RapidAir stuff, but you can get the tubing & fittings at big box stores.

Edit the above; PEX-AL is actually cheaper than black iron. The only downside I can see is it's less 'damage-proof' if someone drills or saws into a wall/ceiling at some point in the future. And with careful planning, you might be able to keep all the joints/fittings outside the wall/ceiling surfaces, for future maintenance purposes. I've always done all my own home maintenance, and I hate having to cut into a finished surface to repair something that's inside a wall/ceiling.

Charlie
 
Inside / outside the wallboard

Personal preferences will hold sway, understood. Mine, however, would be to run the air lines on the outside of the drywall, since I've never known a system not to develop a minor leak eventually. If it were inside the wall, it might take a while to get noticed and it would cause what otherwise would be a quick fix job to become a major, disruptive repair. The approach is to think about bad things, then design them out.

Sorry about your loss, and it's great to see you making the best of your recovery. I intend to be quite envious of your new shop space.
 
Pulled the tape today...

Ceiling height is 9'-9" on the joists, plenums drop it to 8'-5" in places. Floor dimensions 37'x40'.

Any thoughts on best lighting options?

Thanks, guys.
 
air lines

Bill,

You are certainly putting some good thought into this build, very impressive.

I've worked in many shops using black iron pipe for air lines. All of them used a filter/water separator at each air drop just before the air chuck. Of course this would be on the exposed side of the drywall to drain the condensate occasionally.

My workshop is plumbed with PVC for the last 12 years. No problems, but it is exposed so if I need to change or repair I can do that. But never a problem and it's inexpensive.

Are you planning on putting in electrical outlets in the ceiling for lights to plug into? It offers flexibility and ability to move lights later if you decide to.
 
Thanks, Mark

...and everyone. It's not like I have much else to do right now to keep my RV-10 aspirations moving along :D

I think I can get away with a hiding most but not all of the air plumbing behind the finished walls with confidence if I go with the the iron pipe. It's what the HVAC contractor, who seems very knowledgeable, really wants to do. I would like to terminate the air lines in the RapidAir outlet blocks - I was very impressed with them the few weeks I had them in the former basement. But the MaxLine fittings and pipe did have some slow leaks I was not completely happy with. I think properly-fitted iron pipe would eliminate most of that, and I'd be confident with that behind the walls.

Lighting-wise, I am still unclear on whether I'd be better off with about fifty 4' pseudo-fluorescent LED fixtures, or with closer to 100 el cheapo recessed cans and medium-base LED A-bulbs, for a total of ~100,000 lumens either way. Lots of wiring to run either way. The technology looks to be getting more affordable and diverse every day, but it's time to lock in.

-Bill
 
Lighting-wise, I am still unclear on whether I'd be better off with about fifty 4' pseudo-fluorescent LED fixtures, or with closer to 100 el cheapo recessed cans and medium-base LED A-bulbs, for a total of ~100,000 lumens either way. Lots of wiring to run either way. The technology looks to be getting more affordable and diverse every day, but it's time to lock in.

-Bill

As far as lighting goes, I just finished installing the first 1/3 of the recessed cans in my shop. Powered them up and compared them to the ugly fluorescent tubes...mild disappointment.

Here's my setup: right now, there are eight cans, one 65 watt incandescent flood (not halogen) in each. Compared to the strip of four 8 foot double T12 tubes I had before, the new lighting is a much warmer (darker) color temperature, and overall appears to be considerably dimmer. The cans are placed on a diagonal grid about 50 inches on the diagonal.

I'm certainly going to have to add supplemental lighting to get good light to work by. I had intended to relocate the fluorescent tubes to the periphery of the room tucked behind a trim piece all around the ceiling. Not sure that's going to give me the light I'll need now.

My options would be to go with brighter or higher color temperature bulbs in the cans (expensive to move up to halogens or CFLs or LEDS) or to install fluorescent strips in the middle of the ceiling (which I was trying to avoid).

My recommendation would be to go with the brightest bulbs you can get and put the cans closer together than I did, if you want good working light.

I hope this helps you, and I'm definitely open to suggestions!

EDIT: I would add that the incandescents in the cans definitely add a very much missing warmth to the light of the fluorescents. They just don't seem to replace them completely, unfortunately.
 
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My workshop is plumbed with PVC for the last 12 years. No problems, but it is exposed so if I need to change or repair I can do that. But never a problem and it's inexpensive.

I know this has been a bit of a controversial subject in the past but I would not use PVC for compressed air lines. If it ruptures it will turn into lots of very sharp shrapnel. Other plastics will fail more gracefully.
 
Lots of personal preference issues; might get to be an analog of primer wars. :)

I hate can lights. Ceiling stays dark (sounds unimportant, but for me, it isn't). The cans force the light into cones, meaning uneven lighting at mid-levels, even if enough are used to evenly light the floor. Probably not an issue in a basement, but anywhere there's an attic over the room, they require multiple large air leaks into the attic that are very difficult to seal.

Fluorescent (or hopefully) LED tubes spread the light a lot more evenly, to my taste, at least. I compare the lighting from, say, 40 watts worth of screw-in Fluorescents in a table lamp (or can light) to a 4' long fluorescent tube. For me, the linear tube spreads the light evenly, while the table lamp or can light concentrates it in one blinding spot.

Just a FWIW....
 
a side note, about insurance companies

Subsequent to our house fire this past May, we have had the expected "intimate dealings" with our homeowners' insurance. I am happy to say that Erie Ins. has been very straightforward, accommodating and above-board in every dealing w have had with them over our total-loss claim. While I was a bit taken aback at first that our "replacement cost" coverage was on a depreciated value- unless we spent more than that value to rebuild - we found ourselves ultimately willing to spend above that depreciated value and are now "across the gap" and accessing the remainder of the full replacement value benefits. Erie offered to let us work with independent inventory specialists (Enservio) to reconstruct our list of lost contents. Not only did the Enservio rep spend about 5 full days with Lorri and myself reconstructing an inventory from pictures and recall, but Erie allowed us full non-depreciated replacement cost on contents for utilizing this contracted service. The sole exclusion for contents was for "Aircraft and aircraft parts," which is plainly stated in the policy. The panel I was doing in the basement would have cost about 27k to professionally replace, so that was a painful rider. In the end, we had enough other contents deductions to reach the absolute policy limit, so it ended up being a moot point.

At someone's suggestion I gave Jenny at NationAir/Gallagher/AIG a call to see if there was any coverage for the aircraft parts if they weren't in the plane. Turns out, they were happy to cover the loss of any avionics that had ever been installed or carried in the plane prior to the fire. That was by no means many of the pieces, but it was a few of them, and every little bit helps! With no more than an unsworn statement from me, a few pictures and a letter from the homeowners insurance that they were refusing coverage, I had a check in hand from Richard Harder at AIG for my portable GPS and autopilot heads. These guys gave great customer service and I told them I'd gladly say so :) So refreshing to experience.

I don't know how other insurance companies roll, and don't want to find out - but as I wrote to the adjuster a few weeks ago:

"I cannot thank you and AIG enough for stepping up to cover a part of this loss. Your customer service has been top-tier. Hope you don't mind if I toot AIG's horn a bit on the Van's Air Force message boards when people ask how I'm doing after the fire, etc. "

-Stormy
 
At the ceiling height you have, I would use the surface mount "fake" can lights. We just installed just over 4000 of them in an apartment complex and they are great. They look like a can light but mount to a standard ceiling light fixture. They give off much more light and use less than 25% of the electricity. This is not the one we used, but similar.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sea-Gull-Lighting-Traverse-White-Recessed-Retrofit-Flushmount-14603S-15/204147559

You will not be disappointed and you don't have to worry about insulating around the can since they mount in a standard box.

Have fun!
 
next chapter

I just made arrangements to purchase Todd's RV-10 kit in Columbus, after flying up to look at it last evening. First-rate workmanship- I just hope it's truly all there, as he purchased it secondhand himself and it's been in storage awhile, and that it contains no major flaws that my untrained and unfamiliar eye didn't spot. It was almost eerie poking around in a canoe-stage fuselage and inspecting unmounted control surfaces and wings; it transported me back almost twenty years to my 6A build. What beautiful things prepunched parts are!

Now as my new house and workshop near completion, I'm starting to look for the best deal on a rental box truck with lift gate for the six hour each-way moving adventure in the next few weeks. I'm thinking ahead to the prudent steps I need to take once it's safely home: inventory and parts sorting, a detailed look-over for hidden damage and missing fasteners, perhaps a meticulous reading of the plans and manual as if I were building the many sub assemblies that are already finished on this kit, just to familiarize myself with them and satisfy myself they were done right. Its nice to see pro-seal under every tank rivet and know that the tanks passed the leak test. Torque seal is in evidence on every nut that I saw yesterday- the sign of a methodical builder.

It's too early to sweat engine and avionics; I have to buy a few basic tools to replace what I lost in the fire, which was all of them, and get ready to work with fiberglass again. This kit is so far along in terms of sheet metal work, I doubt a pneumatic squeezer or cleco tool would be worthwhile, nor even a DRDT dimpler. It feels strange to consider buying so many specialty tools for so few remaining steps... a machine counter sink for fifty remaining holes, a c-frame dimpler for a hundred more dimples, etc. But if I need to do an operation even once, I need the tool to do it right. Stein, Avery and Cleveland are going to be glad to see me coming in the months ahead.

Im curious what recommendations you'd offer to a guy who's bringing an orphan project home and getting back in the saddle after so many years of just flying and maintaining...
 
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Bill,

I'm the original owner of the RV-10 you bought from Todd. Thanks for the good words on it! I have the other stainless heater box I'll send to you if you PM me. I found it cleaning out the hangar last weekend. And yes the tanks have been leak tested. If you have any questions on the work I have completed feel free to contact me.
 
Congratulations..

..on the new acquisition. I've hauled/transported a couple planes in the past and if I learned anything, it was to double whatever is needed. Extra straps, moving blankets, old pillows, wood blocks, a screw gun and wood screws. A plane can never be "too secured" when hauling it. And when you feel it isn't secured enough, it makes for a long stressful trip with each bump you hit.
 
That's just what Todd recommended

and I intend to take your advice to heart, Chris. Can't have too many straps and pads. But I thought the roads in WV were straight and smooth:rolleyes:

Rental on a decent box truck with lift gate is pretty steep. I'm looking around for enclosed low trailers that would be easier to load without power assistance, or maybe use a pneumatic/hydraulic ATV lift to get the palleted freight up into a conventional U-Haul. Todd has shop air available. So many options; so few appealing ones.

-Bill
 
Transport

Hi Bill, I was the other guy that wanted to buy Todd's/Rick's project. I am traveling so you beat me to the close. If you have any reservations I would be happy to get you off the hook :-}

I have moved 2 other RV-10 projects, and 2 RV-7 projects. You do not need a lift gate truck, especially with no engine to move. 2 guys and a roller dolly can load the entire airframe without much stress. The pull out ramp will provide all you need.

You may be able to borrow a few of the bigger tools from a local builder if you only need them for a few items.

Best,
Frank
 
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For some reason...

the idea of a ratcheting come-along _just now_ entered my mind. (the fuse and wings are both on wheeled stands that come with the project. I was worried they'd run us over if we lost footing halfway up a steep ramp.) Should work, if I can attach it to something inside the truck bed.
 
If the wings have the push rods installed be sure to protect them on the inside wing rib. if wheels are installed on the wing and fuselage stand, remove and screw to floor. Good luck.

Jim Fogarty
RV-9A Flying
 
Need a recommendation on a multimeter (DMM)

One of the instruments I need to replace sooner than later after the fire is a digital multimeter or two. (I had the alternator trouble light come on and flicker the whole way home from Columbus a couple weeks ago and I have to track that issue down. I suspect a loose wire or failing battery/master split rocker switch, but that's just a guess at this point.)

I checked Amazon for DMM selection in the $15-75 price range and there are entirely too many choices (first-world NATO problem, for sure). I want a cheapo for down in the hangar to troubleshoot basic 12VDC electrics and check continuity, and a nicer auto-ranging unit for amateur radio, higher-voltage and clamp-on AC, with temperature, capacitance and basic freq counter functionality, lock and hold, true-RMS type stuff. Any particular units stand out as hitting the sweet spot for experimenters? Tell me what multimeter you have - that you would buy again.

-Bill
 
I've probably had a dozen of the lowest price Harbor Freight meters (often free with a coupon). They work fine until they don't. :) Good to keep around as 'disposable' meters.

I've bought a couple of used Flukes; one off ebay & the other locally off craigslist. Both have been good meters. I think I paid less than $75 each for them. IIRC, one is a 73 (can't remember which series). Don't remember the model of the other.

Can't help much with the 'all the bells & whistles' model.

Charlie
 
6 months in...

Six months ago tonight

Three months later

last week sometime

Tonight - first firing-up of the shop lights. This is a bank of 9 of the 35 LED fixtures the luminary planning app said I would need for 75 foot candles of illumination

Clearly, I can afford to do a wall/floor paint scheme that's a little darker than what I originally envisioned for the sake of maximum reflectivity. In fact, I may end up wearing a welding helmet for eye protection when all the lights are on. Better too much than too little, now that Lowe's has my lighting $$$.
 
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