RV 10 finish kit delays

[cjf154]

Originally Posted by huse0054

Curious, has anyone purchased a finish kit from Van's in January, February or March of 2021 and received it? Specifically for a 10.

I know of one builder that ordered their finish kit in Jan 2021. They got the bulk of their kit in July and the remainder last month.

[huse0054]

Originally Posted by cjf154

I know of one builder that ordered their finish kit in Jan 2021. They got the bulk of their kit in July and the remainder last month.

Well, not sure if that is promising or discouraging....

Meaning ...I'm next in line or the delays are that severe.

[dmattmul]

In Jan 2021 shortages and shipping problems had only just started to become an issue. My guess is anyone ordering a finishing kit for a 10 in March or later has still a decent wait. Based on when I received mine even a February order might need another month or 2. I thought when I ordered mine since it was just a bunch of parts from third parties no problem since not being shipped overseas. Turns out the domestic supply of parts might be more of an issue than parts from abroad.

[PhatRV]

In another post elsewhere, it mentions that the factory Cessna C172 wait time to build is over one year. With the vast resource of such a large company with aircraft porfolio that ranges from trainers to business jets, Cessna is still struggling to deliver the C172s. This is for a very old airplane design that will cost over 1/2 million US dollars new. It was reported that Cessna is working around the clock to meet the demand. This is to put things into perspective. The Vans people are working full stop to deliver parts and kits to its customers too. For a small company like Vans (relatively in the global corporation perspective) I can pick up a phone and talk to a real person at the factory instead of a person from a call center in the Far East. I just don't know of any company that provides that personal service. If you flop down $500K cold cash, I doubt Cessna will let you jump the queue and deliver you a new C172.

[Pdp7427]

Those waiting on a new Cessna apparently have a sense of their lead times. That’s a good thing.

I expect that Vans is working hard to determine something about lead times. I think that most people have a grip on the unprecedented supply chain issues, and that having some expectations set will go a long way.

Patrick

[cjf154]

Interestingly, using the new Vans Web Store you can kind of piece together where the supply delays are. For each item, the webstore tells you which items are in stock and which are on backorder. Looking at all the big items for the finishing kits it appears as though the only things on backorder are the doors. The store says that the engine mount, cowling and landing gear are "in stock".

[lr172]

If inflation keeps rising and the market keeps tanking, I suspect we'll see a significant reduction in the demand for discretionary, hobby items. We have had way too many good years that has led to all this spending. When was the last time someone feared about losing their job. It seems inevitable that this historic bull run will end in the near term. It just doesn't make sense how this can go on once the feds start pairing the balance sheet and raising interest rates. I still believe that the fed intervention has kept the steam in the market for the last 10 years and if that goes away - watch out.

Food for thought.

[vinzer]

I am in the same boat as you, ordered my 10 Finish kit spring 2021, no ETA for now.
Greg @VANs called me couple days back, we had a conversation about this situation. VANs does everything they can to avoid any additional delays to whatever happening now. With the same time they depend a lot on many parts which are manufactured by contractors. With all this COVID thing the supply chain was broken big time and now it will take some time before things we get back to normal.
Parts manufactured and supplied to VANs by their contractors is the one of the main reasons for the delays we all experiencing now. Contractors simply do not provide ETA when parts will be ready because they are out of resources due to panademic

Check out latest video from VANs where Rian and Greg explain more about what is going on now:

Video

I also had plans, hangar rental for my other airplane etc, but now things changed so have to get my self busy with other tasks. Now I work on all avionics, electrical etc for my fuselage.

Hope we will get our kits before OSH

[huse0054]

Originally Posted by cjf154

Interestingly, using the new Vans Web Store you can kind of piece together where the supply delays are. For each item, the webstore tells you which items are in stock and which are on backorder. Looking at all the big items for the finishing kits it appears as though the only things on backorder are the doors. The store says that the engine mount, cowling and landing gear are "in stock".

Interesting and thanks... many probably know the answer but VAN's must outsource the fiberglass work?

[huse0054]

Originally Posted by vinzer

I am in the same boat as you, ordered my 10 Finish kit spring 2021, no ETA for now.
Greg @VANs called me couple days back, we had a conversation about this situation. VANs does everything they can to avoid any additional delays to whatever happening now. With the same time they depend a lot on many parts which are manufactured by contractors. With all this COVID thing the supply chain was broken big time and now it will take some time before things we get back to normal.
Parts manufactured and supplied to VANs by their contractors is the one of the main reasons for the delays we all experiencing now. Contractors simply do not provide ETA when parts will be ready because they are out of resources due to panademic

Check out latest video from VANs where Rian and Greg explain more about what is going on now:

Video

I also had plans, hangar rental for my other airplane etc, but now things changed so have to get my self busy with other tasks. Now I work on all avionics, electrical etc for my fuselage.

Hope we will get our kits before OSH

Thanks Vlad, love your videos!

I'm assuming Greg did not give any indications as to your finish kit arrival?

Agreed... onto other items. My brain is very linear so tough to jump around in the plans but I will work on that


It's curious to me that someone ordered a finish kit only a month or so before I did and received a bulk of the kit in July. I can only glean that those manufactures halted production after July due to all the supply chain reasons or many more ordered kits that month before I did. But hey I'm no supply chain expert.