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Going for the worst builder award

Flying Canuck

Well Known Member
Patron
This 2 week adventure that I?m on with son has been one problem after another. My current roster of problems contains:
Lost all brake fluid right side - broken flare
Lost right brake - leaking o-ring
Flat right tire - under inflated
Lost both brakes - misassembly right and leaking o-ring left
Flaky Skyview network - cause unknown
Stranded at no service airport- can?t start, melted/ broken starter cable

The last one happened late this afternoon at International Peace Garden airport after we cleared back into Canada. Up in Brandon now will source a new cable tomorrow with the assistance of the local flying club. This was only a 55 minute flight from our planned stop and the day had gone so well.

I know these are not all my fault but enough of them are that I?m feeling like I am a shoe in for worst builder of the year.

Oh well, it?s only time, money and pride, don?t have much left of any of them. The hair isn?t far behind. I put the amateur in amateur built.

The rest of the big trip experience has been awesome. It?s a great way to travel.
 
..........

snip

....... I put the amateur in amateur built.

The rest of the big trip experience has been awesome. It?s a great way to travel.

You have the right attitude Claude. If you travel extensively many things will happen during first year of flying. Less so in year two. Nearly nothing in year 5 :)

 
Dang, Vlad...

I've seen parts of Monument Valley that offered more survivable landing spots than what you're flying over, here. That cityscape looks downright devoid of options from that altitude.

Drop in some time on your travels. Jacob will make sure the Russian gets a burger no matter what anyone else is or isn't having.
 
Some times these set backs come back to back. After years of virtually trouble free flying, my buddy who owns the Cozy MKIV we built and now lives in Florida, had similiar issues last winter, one after another, including the original pitot/static lines turning to snotty goo inside the tubing! . He got so frustrated and discouraged that his wife called me up on the sly and asked if I could catch a flight down to Venice for a week and help him sort through the issues. I am retired so no problems there, especially coming from Michigan's January weather! Four days in the hanger and back in business. Since that time he and his wife have traveled to the west coast and back. They flew up to Michigan last Friday to visit family a few days, then up to Gladwin tomorrow to help me do some work on my RV-9A for a few days, then on to Holland MI to visit friends, finally back to Venice FL next week. Set back happen but the rewards are definitely worth the angst.
 
Just keep building. The important thing is you find the errors and fix them. My plan have 40 hours on it and in still fixing things.
 
I?m over 100 hours on my plane. Do hope to get these snags behind me. I do know that my brakes and ground handling has never been better. I just finished my annual 3 weeks ago, definitely room for doing a better job on that.

I think the thing that brought all these issues out one one trip is that it involves a large variety of different operations than what get flying around my home base. Makes it a great big test phase.
 
The starter wire replacement was pretty simple, found a prebuilt 4AWG cable at Canadian Tire, installation was only 20 minutes, not including the travel time. End result was a better start than I?ve ever had. Clearly the 8AWG cable I built was inadequate. Flew 2 legs yesterday and starting my final leg home in a couple of hours.

It does feel good to get the bugs out, every one increases my confidence in the plane. Good to know that my experience isn?t entirely uncommon. I?ll have a few things to do at home, replacing my battery ground cable and alternator cable with heavier gauge, replacing my brake o-rings with the high temp ones, some fairing fixes and improvements. I?ll also see if I can tighten up my baffle seals, I?d like to see my CHT spend less time over 400F.
 
If you see any issues with flares, you should second guess any fuel system hard lines, including those in the tank.

I won't name names, but I recall a few years ago a guy saying he got his pipe flaring tool from home depot, he didn't realize they were a different degree than the AN ones

same builder's airplane had a fuel system failure.....
 
In line with other comments about flaring hard lines... Now would be a good time to consider going to braided stainless flex lines going down the gear legs to the calipers. We have two suppliers who frequent this forum, Tom and Steve (TS Flightlines and Aircraft Specialties) who fabricate fantastic lines and will bend over backwards to make you a happy customer.

While I don't envy you the technical challenges you've encountered, I'm a bit envious of the long trip you've taken. Congratulations for taking on the challenge of the long trip, and for getting past the little speed bumps you've encountered along the way.
 
While I don't envy you the technical challenges you've encountered, I'm a bit envious of the long trip you've taken. Congratulations for taking on the challenge of the long trip, and for getting past the little speed bumps you've encountered along the way.

Thanks. One of the biggest short duration challenges I've ever done and as of 1810z today it concluded successfully. It has resulted in a better airplane and a better pilot. I'd never suggest anyone does it if they have time pressure, my plan before the trip was to take 3 days each way, reality made it 5 days Eastbound and 6 days Westbound. And much of the 6 days on the East coast were spent doing repairs.

I think the best thing I can do in the near future is put together a toolkit for future adventures. I know there were a few things that I wish I'd brought along.
 
As others have said, it takes years to get all the bugs out. ****, I'm still fighting them after five years. It's an adventure. Hang in there!
 
As for worst builder, you don't even qualify for the semifinals...

Years ago, there was one builder of a metal airplane who wanted all of his bends to be straight, so he scored all the bend lines in the aluminum before he bent it.

Then there was the story of one man who bought a very rough RV-4, thinking that with the low cost, he'd be able to fix it up and break even. After flying it a bit, he did some inspecting and discovered that the rear spars had never been drilled. The front "spar" attach at the fuel tank had never been fitted. That one became beer cans.

And on the RV-4 that I bought, I eventually discovered that the rear spar on one side had been mis-drilled, and the correction left a siamesed-hole with a half moon washer. And the landing gear was so excessively towed out that the tires had to be swapped inside for outside every 15 hours or so. The wiring was Radio Shack vinyl. And more.

There was an older man who built RVs to keep busy, and his "workmanship" was a little rough. He had one rivet that went through the skin, and only through the skin.
 
I think the best thing I can do in the near future is put together a toolkit for future adventures. I know there were a few things that I wish I'd brought along.

This might be a really good place to document, from hard lessons learned on the road, what items you'll include in your fly-away kit.

Keep going, Claude, you're on a roll and things will only get better from here on out!
 
He had one rivet that went through the skin, and only through the skin.

What's wrong with that? I've got a few hundred of those on my plane...

They are on my outboard leading edges that I converted for fuel - and had to plug the original prepunched holes for the different rib spacing. :cool:

But back to the OP - it's growing pains, and it's a good thing - you'll work them out.
 
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