How to do a year-long condition inspection

When I was building my RV-7A, one of the things that nagged me consistently in its later stages was disorganization, both with my approach and my workspace organization. It seemed for every one hour I spent actually building, I spent one hour looking for stuff.

I'm reminded of this as I started my annual condition inspection a few weeks ago, which is made a little more difficult by my choice to concede territory to the Minnesota winter and shuttle some things between the cold (kerosene heaters can only do so much) hangar and the warmer home front.

Here's a sample of my routine so far, just with one aspect of this.

1. Remove left wheel to repack bearing.
2. Figure, "what the heck" as long as the wheel is off I might as well flip the tire for even wear. Take wheel home.
3. Remove brake pads. Watch stuck-on disc noise stopper goo pull the "puck" out, sending brake fluid to the floor, of course.
4. Order new brake pads. Pay ridiculous shipping charges and wait.
5. A day later, let online pals convince me that as long as the wheel is off, might as well replace the O-rings on the puck. Order O-rings. Pay ridiculous shipping charges and wait. Same supplier (Van's).
6. Brake pads arrive. Take two hours looking for Rapco rivet remove tool which I could swear was at home. It was at the hangar.
7. Remove rivets at home but accidentally enlarge a hole (or two) , causing a burr.
8. Take parts back to the hangar to debur (grinder wheel is there). Use wife's car because she wants her tires filled and the compressor is at the hangar.
9. Try to take wheels apart to flip tire. Let online pals convince me to go buy a Harbor Freight Bead Breaker. HF store is too far away to drive so check local Northern Tool. They're out.
10. Drive to Harbor Freight, which is closer to hangar. As long as I'm near, stop in to deburr brake pad holders. When finished place them in baggie on passenger seat of wife's car. Fill her tires with air; spend time marveling how she married up.
11. Spend a day and a half trying to get wheel apart. finally, she's free. uncomfortable with how much abuse it tire/tube have to take. Order new tubes just in case. Pay ridiculous shipping fee.
12. A day later, say 'what the heck' maybe things aren't so bad. Reinstall tube, tire, and fill with air. Spend two days making sure it holds pressure.
13. Look at wheel bearings and decide maybe those felt seals could be replaced. Order new felt seals. Pay ridiculous shipping charges.
14. Find Rapco Tool at hangar. Bring home. Ready to go. Whoops, wife took her car to work. Guess what's still in the car?
15. Back to work after a one week vacation in which nothing much actually got done. But at least I remembered to grab the brake pad holders from wife's car. Congratulate myself.
16. Ready to rivet the brake pads. What did I do with the brake pads?
17. No, seriously, where are the (**@*&%)( brake pads? I just had them yesterday. Maybe they're at the hangar.
18. Consider ordering new brake pads if they're not at the hangar.

Will stop at the hangar on the way to work.

I have enough trouble and my hangar is 15 feet from my house. I think if I ever had to keep my airplane some miles away at an airport, I'd have to quit flying. I just don't know how you guys do it.

Me: (to my wife) hey, I'm going to the hardware store.
Wife: WHAT!!! You just went this morning.
Me: sigh, I know. I've got to go again.
Wife: why don't you just make a list so you don't forget something.
Me: (just keeping silent)

LettersFromFlyoverCountry said:

5. Pay ridiculous shipping charges and wait. Same supplier (Van's).

Click to expand...

Priority Mail gets my parts here a few days sooner than UPS, several dollars cheaper, and they deliver on Saturdays.

Mike D said:

Wife: why don't you just make a list so you don't forget something.
Me: (just keeping silent)

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a great idea. In theory at least. So I agreed to send a guy here a set of quick-disconnect air line fittings that I had at the hangar. I made two trips for other stuff and forgot to grab them while I was at the hangar. The third (or maybe fourth) time I had a list... a carefully made, itemized list of all the stuff I had to do that afternoon of running errands, and what to do at and bring back from the hangar. When I got home several hour later I found the list in my pocket and realized I had run around all afternoon and forgotten I had the list... sigh.

So, David, if you're reading this, that's why it took me so long to send your fittings. Sorry about that.

It was bad enough when I was building in my garage. Now that I have tools and parts spread between the house and the hangar 15 minutes away, things are rapidly deteriorating to the point where I never have what I need where I need it.

I don't want to buy a complete duplicate set of tools, but I can see where this could be heading. I keep telling myself it's temporary, just until I get the plane fixed up the way I want it. Who am I trying to kid?

DaleB said:

Priority Mail gets my parts here a few days sooner than UPS, several dollars cheaper, and they deliver on Saturdays.

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I've had the same experience. Not sure why Van's is so discouraging about using it ("USPS (United States Postal Service) is available, but only at your own risk as there is no tracking available. Allow at least 6 weeks for delivery.").

Mike D said:

Me: (to my wife) hey, I'm going to the hardware store.
Wife: WHAT!!! You just went this morning.
Me: sigh, I know. I've got to go again.
Wife: why don't you just make a list so you don't forget something.
Me: (just keeping silent)

Click to expand...

Uhh... yeah...

What's worse is when you make the list, pre-order everything, pick everything up at Spruce when you're up for the holiday... and then the day you return you realize you forgot something, and now have to order it and pay shipping.

D'oh!

Duplicate tools

DaleB said:

Priority Mail gets my parts here a few days sooner than UPS, several dollars cheaper, and they deliver on Saturdays.

Yeah, that's a great idea. In theory at least. So I agreed to send a guy here a set of quick-disconnect air line fittings that I had at the hangar. I made two trips for other stuff and forgot to grab them while I was at the hangar. The third (or maybe fourth) time I had a list... a carefully made, itemized list of all the stuff I had to do that afternoon of running errands, and what to do at and bring back from the hangar. When I got home several hour later I found the list in my pocket and realized I had run around all afternoon and forgotten I had the list... sigh.

So, David, if you're reading this, that's why it took me so long to send your fittings. Sorry about that.

It was bad enough when I was building in my garage. Now that I have tools and parts spread between the house and the hangar 15 minutes away, things are rapidly deteriorating to the point where I never have what I need where I need it.

I don't want to buy a complete duplicate set of tools, but I can see where this could be heading. I keep telling myself it's temporary, just until I get the plane fixed up the way I want it. Who am I trying to kid?

Click to expand...

I get by with one set of tools. I keep the ones I need at the hangar at home and the ones needed at home are at the hangar.

Hey wait a minute there, I thought I had a patent on doing things that way

dsmith1055 said:

I get by with one set of tools. I keep the ones I need at the hangar at home and the ones needed at home are at the hangar.

Click to expand...

Bob thanks for a good laugh at a lunch break!

The "wait and pay excessive shipping charges" comment is spot on.

If I need items that could be considered as consumables, such as brake pads, I always order an extra set, along with the cheap O-rings and rivets for brake work.

You can end up with a lot of "stuff" in your hangar, but it also helps out other local RV builders since they can now come and get parts from you and replace it in their next Spruce order, but on a non-panic basis...

Yup Gil that works for me too my pals always replace the stuff they borrow!! or maybe not.

Trello

Mike D said:

Wife: why don't you just make a list so you don't forget something.
Me: (just keeping silent)

Click to expand...

If you are a smartphone user, I highly suggest the Trello App, which is a free download. It is really a quite simple, but powerful way to keep track of projects, lists, etc. You can add "cards" with different tasks, make to-do lists, add pictures, etc. It is also "in the cloud" so you can access it from any device, including desktop computers. When I am at the hangar working and need something, I simply add it to the "To Buy" list. When I get home I add that to a wishlist on Aircraft Spruce, and when the cost of the cart doesn't make me wince at the shipping charges, I buy it. I have the build broken down by chapter (this is a Cozy Mk-IV) and to-do lists for each one corresponding to step numbers. It is a really powerful tool. If you are working on a project with someone else, you can each add cards, comment, etc, so it makes collaboration really very easy.

I think Trello has replaced a good deal of my failing memory. I use it for the plane, the grocery shopping list, Christmas presents, brewing beer, working on a cabin we're building, etc. It really is pretty sweet.

LettersFromFlyoverCountry said:

When I was building my RV-7A, one of the things that nagged me consistently in its later stages was disorganization, both with my approach and my workspace organization. It seemed for every one hour I spent actually building, I spent one hour looking for stuff.

Click to expand...

Oh, and you need plastic bins, Ziploc bags, and a labelling machine. I am fond of the Akro Bins, in various sizes, and have a shelf unit on one wall of my hangar and EVERYTHING is in plastic bins. The bins are labeled with a Dymo Rhino label machine (also handy for labeling wires). Ziploc bags are supplied for free with nearly everything you buy from vendors. Keep them. Mine are in a bin labeled "Plastic Bags." If you are working on a sub-assembly, like the brakes, you put all of the parts into a Ziploc bag, and label it with a Sharpie marker. After every building session ALL of the tools and parts go back in the correct bins. Put one bin in your car, and label it "Hangar/Home" and put anything that is going to or from home or the hangar in the bin. No more forgotten parts at the wrong place. It might sound OCD, and probably is, but I no longer look for parts, or tools, and I am much more efficient working on the plane.

Bob,
I feel your pain.
Next time, before working on your airplane, order every part and consumable supplies you may need in the next 5 years. Once everthing arrives load everything, every tool you own and the Aircraft Spruce Catalog in your truck. Now you are almost ready for some simple task. The catalog is so you can figure out quickly what size widget you forgot to order.

Except you have to have 'remember to grab phone' on your list. I also take exception to the two sets of tools, in that you really need 3 - home, hangar, and the travel kit. In addition to each set of tools being in the wrong place, some of mine have had several trips in truck before being remembered...

==dave==
N102FM

Good news! The brake pads were at the hangar.

Now where did I put that Rapco Tool?

LettersFromFlyoverCountry said:

Good news! The brake pads were at the hangar.

Now where did I put that Rapco Tool?

Click to expand...

If the airplane and pads are at the hangar, there is a 95% chance the tool is at home. The other possibility is that it is in the hangar of the guy who borrowed it, then moved to a different airport. In that case, you will not have the guy's phone number.

Kyle Boatright said:

If the airplane and pads are at the hangar, there is a 95% chance the tool is at home. The other possibility is that it is in the hangar of the guy who borrowed it, then moved to a different airport. In that case, you will not have the guy's phone number.

Click to expand...

Not that it matters, because he will have left his phone at home.

Wow!

For 15 years Avery Tools has been a short walk from my hanger.

The adjustment to not having a shipping and receiving store has been painful. He has helped me so much these past years. And he has only been out of the Retail business a couple of weeks.

Also he is selling his stock to other retailers so I will have to stock up on drill bits and the many consumable items. Getting organized will take time, and adjustments.
I am feeling your Paine

LettersFromFlyoverCountry said:

5. A day later, let online pals convince me that as long as the wheel is off, might as well replace the O-rings on the puck. Order O-rings. Pay ridiculous shipping charges and wait. Same supplier (Van's).

Click to expand...

Bob, every item you mentioned is available at Aircraft Spruce and they ship USPS at very modest cost. Depending on size of the shipment it can go either First Class or Priority, in either case you will have it in a short time for very few dollars.

Last time I ordered some bits-n-bobs from ACS ground UPS was quoted at $16, but Priority was $6 and I had it in two days.

Having said that, I feel your frustration at tools not being where they are supposed to be...........

the Rapco tool is on your dresser - you put it there when you came home and set down the keys and picked up your phone. The phone is in the fridge, because it was in your hand when you went there to get a beer...not sure where the pads are...

==dave==

We all need more friends like Gil....

Sam Buchanan said:

Bob, every item you mentioned is available at Aircraft Spruce and they ship USPS at very modest cost. Depending on size of the shipment it can go either First Class or Priority, in either case you will have it in a short time for very few dollars.

Last time I ordered some bits-n-bobs from ACS ground UPS was quoted at $16, but Priority was $6 and I had it in two days.

Having said that, I feel your frustration at tools not being where they are supposed to be...........

Click to expand...

I'm only one state over from ACS and interestingly I find the USPS Priority mail takes 1 or sometimes 2 days longer than UPS/FedEx.

While the order seems to be filled the same day as promised, there seems to be a delay in getting it into the Post Office system. The USPS and ACS give very differing times for an order transitioning between systems.

It's a bit annoying since 2 day Priority Mail would be half the shipping costs as you say, and should be the same delivery time to me.

The other interesting local twist is UPS vs. FedEx. UPS delivers to suburban homes after businesses are taken care of so we don't see then until about 6 pm. - FedEx will deliver mid-morning giving most of a working day to use the parts you have been waiting for.

Sam Buchanan said:

Bob, every item you mentioned is available at Aircraft Spruce and they ship USPS at very modest cost. Depending on size of the shipment it can go either First Class or Priority, in either case you will have it in a short time for very few dollars.

Last time I ordered some bits-n-bobs from ACS ground UPS was quoted at $16, but Priority was $6 and I had it in two days.

Having said that, I feel your frustration at tools not being where they are supposed to be...........

Click to expand...

My problem is because all of this is happening over time, these are all separate orders. One big order with everything I need woudl be quite a luxury. It's a nickel and dime thing . No complaints with the speed of delivery.

BigD said:

the Rapco tool is on your dresser - you put it there when you came home and set down the keys and picked up your phone. The phone is in the fridge, because it was in your hand when you went there to get a beer...not sure where the pads are...

==dave==

Click to expand...

This presumes I remembered to even BUY the beer on Saturday, because you can't buy it in Minnesota on Sunday.

The luxury of building my airplane with a nicely stocked parts department next door at Wipaire, made my poor organization skills survivable. I even borrowed tools from them a time or two. If I recall, they had a brake bleeding system that could be borrowed by any tenant on the field, and same with their aircraft scales. Anyway, that parts department got a lot of business from me!

Whoa! They lend out their scales????