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Things that keep you out of the workshop....

Mikeandmaz

Active Member
I?m sure I?m not the only one that would like to spend more time building and less time doing ? other things?.

I had a free day yesterday, so 8 hours planned in shop. But then,
Can you take the dog for a walk,
Can you put the bins out,
I?m not feeling well so can you get an order for me, it?s only an hours drive there oh and an hour back.
Would you mind getting the car washed
The twins are waking, can you get them up
Its tea with the twins now
Twins bath time

So I got 1 1/2 hours build..........it?s going to be a long project
 
ALL THE TIME!

Life and family are important, it's sometimes hard to feel like you are making progress, but keep at it. Making family a priority, even if it's just the "hey can you go to the store and get me something" helps keep everyone happy.
 
Family

Do not choose your build over Family!

I am still working on my -10 after 6 years...BUT...I haven't missed a single family function or obligation in those 6 years...

There is NOTHING more important during a build than your family...the build can wait...
 
Do not choose your build over Family!

I am still working on my -10 after 6 years...BUT...I haven't missed a single family function or obligation in those 6 years...

There is NOTHING more important during a build than your family...the build can wait...

There's some truth in that, but there's also truth in the OP post.

I've had several days off from work that I just simply neglected to mention to my wife until after the fact, where I happily spent the entire day in the shop working on the airplane without interruption, simply because I knew there would be an endless stream of them.
 
Nobody is awake at 5 in the morning. It's the only time I can work without getting in the way of other things.
 
Things do interrupt.

I took vacation on Monday to sand fiberglass in the warm sunshine in my driveway.

And ended up taking a relative to the ER and staying there with said relative until midnight, after he got admitted and settled into a room. The relative got to stay for 3 days with pneumonia.

Not a lot of airplane work was done for a few days...
 
?

"I've had several days off from work that I just simply neglected to mention to my wife until after the fact"

How do you not mention a day off until after it happens? Did you just pretend to go to work, then go to work on the plane?
 
"I've had several days off from work that I just simply neglected to mention to my wife until after the fact"

How do you not mention a day off until after it happens? Did you just pretend to go to work, then go to work on the plane?
I don't know about Airguy, but I telecommute... so yeah, once in a while my wife will find me in the workshop and ask, "Aren't you working today?" "Uh, no... PTO day. Didn't I mention that?"

:)
 
That's why I always tell interested people to stop dreaming and just get started. I was fortunate to finish before getting married and hopefully starting a family. I will have more than enough opportunity to earn the money back, but will probably never have as much free time as I did until retirement, at which time I'll at least have one flying plane while I start on all my other projects.

A firefighter's schedule helps, too ;) I paid attention on career day, as we like to say :D

Chris
 
For me some days it's just too cold to go into the garage. Winter really puts a damper on my progress.
 
Things that screw my work time:

1) work (**** need of money!!)
2) family (look I give up allotted building windows all the time to spend time with my wife who instead of reciprocating and telling me, 'oh... why dont you go build this afternoon' just remembers the times when I take extra building time and uses that against me... women!!)
3) other hanger duties (flying club maintenance officer duties)
 
For me some days it's just too cold to go into the garage. Winter really puts a damper on my progress.

I had the same experience. When we re-sided the house I insulated the heck out of the garage, so the kerosene heater I have out there actually makes it fairly nice (mid 60s).

Now I'm working on smaller parts down in the basement, since my current build is wood -- the epoxy needs warmer temps. It's still warm enough out in the garage to run the saw, though.
 
a little something every day

I've had those build days too, but it seems that even if everyone is gone and I can put in a lot of dedicated time I have a tough time keeping with it after 4 hours. It's supposed to be fun and when it's not, or I make mistakes and get frustrated I quit and have a beverage. I do try to do something every day, though. Wednesday was busy for me, but I went downstairs and put in 1 rivet. Surprisingly, it felt really good to have achieved something.
 
Going to the ER to get stiches after a fly cutter accident... That also interrupted my wife's plans for the day.
 
Obligations

I'm retired and kids live 1000 miles away. Does that mean I have unlimited time? No
I have four cars. Youngest is 13. No payments but something always needs fixin'. No complaints. I love my 4x4s. I get in my shop several days a week.
Today I had enough of fighting the canopy frame and called Vans. Eric was really helpful and asked for photos. Maybe after Christmas the solution will present itself.
 
My situation is nothing like you guys, and I feel lucky to have the situation I have. My wife actually says for me to go out to the hangar, (maybe it's because I'm a grouch in the house). Been married for 34 years now and dated for 7 before getting married, she had her chances to dump me so I doubt she will now.
Kids are still living at home but are now adults (no rush yet). Always quit at 8:30 PM to spend time each night with them.
Planning on retiring from work soon and have already cut back on that. I enjoy building and flying. No real other hobbies.
Life is good
 
I felt that way with my work... Can you join this meeting? .... can you take care of this project?!??!?

Don't they know I was building a plane ;)
 
Hard to justify going to hangar right now with one of my rental houses empty that still needs some repairs. I just keep telling myself the house will fund the airplane and it is related even if I have not seen and RV built with a tub or toilet.
 
I felt that way with my work... Can you join this meeting? .... can you take care of this project?!??!?

Don't they know I was building a plane ;)
 
Continuing on,

Can you put up the Christmas lights,
Would you mind boarding the inside of the porch
Could you make some more of your Mince Pies...
Can you take that unit out of the kitchen
And then paint over the yellow paint that was behind

However, I?ve got out of decorating the Christmas tree and wrapping presents due to not being good enough at it....er ok well I?ll pop out to the workshop ( it?s in the garden). But Honey, what about...........?!

I have 4 years to retirement, the twins are 2, I?m still confident I can finish it before 2022.
 
Couple of days before Christmas free - great, should have the HS done before Christmas...

?Honey, would be good if you could finish the deck before Christmas??....

I guess the HS will be born in 2019!
 
waiting for the new wall furnace. i don't like using the nonvented gas heater any more than supplemental because it really raises the humidity. and everyone knows how electric heaters spin the meter. new one will be here 12/26
 
All I could do before retiring was dream. Lots and lots of dreaming.....and planning....and reading....and planning. When I finally got to the building part, it was/is balls to the walls and everyone in the family knew how long I'd been talking and dreaming about doing it. I get very little flak, and a fair few words of encouragement. But yeah, I had to wait while other things in life matured and/or timed out. In the end for me, its all good - I'll get to the same place at probably the same time anyway.
 
The way I remember the first build: For 2yrs 7mo, the only requirements were that I go to work every day, advance my career, and Build the Plane! Long commutes to work became mental planning sessions, dinner was sometimes delivered to the shop, and I always had clean clothes. Simply amazing how that happened. It was a blur. I think Tanya even brought me a glass of wine around 9pm some nights and finished whatever task I was working on as I marveled at the day's progress. All this as I look back through my rose colored glasses at over a decade ago.

Hardships and setbacks... They get washed away into oblivion. Build on.
 
If you look at everything that got in the way, most people ask how I got the airplane complete in only 8.5-years. First flight was 17 September 1997. That was over 21-years ago and just short of 3,400 hobbs hours ago.

One must manage their time well. Other "stuff" that gets in the way must be stuff that is important to quality of life.
 
Here?s how it goes at my house, after coming home from trip and have 7 days off to finally get a lot done on the build....

Wife: ?I have a looonnnng list of things for you to get done this week.?

Later that day, ?How much longer til you can move the plane out of the garage??

:confused:
 
What got in the way of my build???

The important things in life. Family. Career. Community.

That?s why I treated my build as a hobby, and didn?t watch the clock at all. In the end, it took me close to 10 years to complete my 6A. Fortunately I enjoyed the build process very much, so much so that I am building another airplane.

The key to a happy life (and wife???) is a balance of work/play. If you are successful, both get done.
 
Life does get in the way but..... that's life! It took me 5 years to complete my QB 7A. There was one period of time when nothing was touched for 8 months! I did find that, like the builders manual says, consistency was better than a huge block of time.
Family has to be first.... with that said, if you can involve them in the build sometimes they begin to take a little pride in the project as well. I was surprised that my sons had not much more than a curiosity about the whole thing. On the other hand, my girlfriend would sit with me and we'd spend lots of time talking about everything under the sun. It did require some kind of cosmic level "double concentration" on my part. I've learned not to ever EVER make a woman think you're not listening. :)
She also became pretty involved. When it was finished and flying, if it came up in a conversation she would always say "We built an airplane." Made me feel great!
 
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how not to do it

i pretty much abandoned my wife and friends for two years. i became totally obsessed with finishing. i was miserable to be around - always tired, sore and stressed.

i was physically and mentally dealing with the recovery from stage 4 cancer. my head was all twisted from that nightmare.

yet through it all my wife never complained about my time, money or anything else. "you just build the plane and ill take care of everything else". and she did. i love her to pieces.
 
Well, once in a while I go flying.

Since the airport is half an hour away, any trip there (parts are kept there too) means an hour added to whatever I do there, even if I don't got flying.

Kind of surprised nobody's mentioned going flying before, as a shop interruption, in this thread.

Dave
 
Try not to focus on it having to be done on a certain date. So what if it takes an extra month/year. What you will discover is that the kids grow up really fast, and they will never be like they were yesterday. The airplane will be exactly as you left if yesterday/last month/etc. When it's all done and you are building flying memories you won't remember the difficult times building or the interruptions.

Carol says I always complained at some point during the building process, for many of the reasons listed in this thread. After a few more builds, with the same complaining, she remarked that building airplanes must be a lot like having babies. You only remember the results, and not the labor pains. :)

Vic
 
When I started my 7 it was a 6 because the 7 had not been announced yet. That was Fall of 1999. After finishing the HS, VS, original rudder, and one elevator, my wife told me she was pregnant with our first child. That scared me to death. I put it on the shelf and it sat for 5 years before I realized life can go on with kids. We had 2 more kids in between the time I put it on the shelf and when I flew it on 03/20/2010.

I just did my best to balance the time and try to do something on the plane no matter how small everyday while it was at the house. Once it went to the hangar which is 30 minutes away, I had to work in batches of time and this got really complicated.

Keep them at home as long as possible!

Now that I am building a 10, I am having to relearn what I learned during the 7 build. The same challenges exit and finding the balance takes work!

PS....while building, I also changed jobs 3 times, went to night school for 2 years over an hour away after work to finish my BS degree, and earned my instrument rating.
 
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I was fortunate to be in the garage/workshop sanding fiberglass around midnight last night and noticed a problem that could have set our house on fire. Long story short, I smelled smoke and traced it to an outlet. The outlet was hot, so I investigated further and noted glowing wires visible through the slots on the positive side of the outlet in addition to the (brand new) discoloration on the outlet.



I shut off the breaker and pulled the faulty outlet. Turned out it had been installed with the stab type connections and somehow one of those connections (presumably) came a bit loose and began to arc, causing the outlet to overheat. I replaced the outlet and wired in the new one using the screw terminals.

So, I lost about an hour of airplane building time due to that distraction. I told SWMBO that my airplane project saved the house.
 
At the risk of starting a flame war :)...

I have a few friends whose builds have essentially come to a halt because of a seemingly never-ending list of things their SO manages to come up with that "have" to get done. In some cases, I think it's because the SO doesn't really *want* them to finish, for whatever reason, but that's just my view from the outside.

In any case, perhaps some better communication and understanding would allow for a more, let's say, equitable arrangement. Presumably, you are building a plane because it's something *you* want to do and that *you* enjoy, and if you ask me, it's not fair for that to always take a back seat to other things. Some time for doing things the other person wants, in exchange for some time doing the things you want.

That said, like someone else posted here, I had a tremendously supportive partner, who allowed me to miss a few social and family events during times that a lot was going on with the build, brought out dinner or sandwiches to the garage, and oftentimes whipped up margaritas or daiquiris for me and my fellow builders at the end of a long Saturday of hard working. Even pushed me to get to work when I was feeling like slacking off..."nobody is going to build it for you!". :)

And yes, 6 years later, it's "WE built an airplane" when people ask!
 
I have a few friends whose builds have essentially come to a halt because of a seemingly never-ending list of things their SO manages to come up with that "have" to get done. In some cases, I think it's because the SO doesn't really *want* them to finish, for whatever reason, but that's just my view from the outside.

Exactly. Whenever I hear about "life" getting in the way, it almost invariably comes down to an unsupportive spouse.

My wife (who'd rather do almost anything than go flying herself) has always been incredibly supportive of my varied interests, including aviation. She bucked rivets on my -8, took several long flights (and countless short ones) in it, and is now helping on my -14A project.

Thankfully, we don't have kids to distract and detract from our lives, but she has her own interests, too, of which I've always been supportive in turn. In short, it's a partnership in which we each participate fully; I wouldn't trade it (or her) for anything.
 
Well, I certainly haven't spent the time in the workshop like I had hoped at the start of this project. Too much travel for work with 1/3rd of this year spent in the wrong island. On the other hand, lots of overtime/away money to throw at the plane. :)

So our happy balance, is: Si doing majority of the build with his brother on bucking bar when I'm not there; I do all the project management and electrical side, and all the house maintenance. (Cheers neighbor who just backed his trailer thru our fence. I'll fix it soon as the rain stops :(

Thank God for holidays cos we've actually spent the last 2 days in the workshop. Hoping to get tail feathers painted and engine cowling done before we go back to work (and they send me back to the wrong island again).
 
I think you'll find you've actually been spending time on the 'right' island ;)

If you are down south and suffering withdrawals, I have an RV-8 project in Nelson that you're welcome to visit.

Hugh
 
Hi Hugh, well at least this year I managed to work in the same hemisphere as my hubby :)
If Fonterra ever expands Brightwater I may be by your way, otherwise I seem to be doomed to 'Dairy for Life' at Clandeboye. So much so that I ended up joining South Cantebury Aero Club. Then worked too many hours to get many lessons in. At this rate I'll still be working towards my PPL in another 20 years time.
Race ya to be 9th 8 to completion?
 
Remember tortoise and the hare

I agree with Vic. If you have a family, kids at home, and other responsibilities that are more important in the big scheme of things, don't set a date for the airplane to be done.

I never set a date for completion. It took me 6+ years. I tell people I built the airplane by working 1 - 1 1/2 hours each evening and 4 - 6 hours on the weekend.

Doing this made it a very, very enjoyable journey without neglecting my family.

The toughest phase of the build, was the last 6 months, when it moved to the hangar, which is 45 minute drive from work and or home. Condition inspections are tough for the same reason.

Michael-
 
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