How do you fund your RV Project?

Cool Question...Great answers

Everyone including me thinks flying is for only the rich, well they are right. However, right here in these responses exists the "real" story of aviators, for the most part we are adventurous, willing to go the extra mile for what we love and largely insanely in love with flying!!! Money is often a barrier to what we want to do, but the one fellow delivered newspapers! really? Cool!!

My plane is sitting with wings half finished and stalled(lack of time) empennage done, tools and garage organized to accept the QB fuselage I am going to order soon. All has been paid for cash and will be. I work as a Forester here and have made middle income money, still owe on a house and wonder how I will ever be able to retire as I turned 58 this year and dont have a pension....BUT I will have a paid for RV!

Cool question, thanks to all those who took time out to answer it as I am sure we all thought when we started out.... how will I ever pay for it all!!!

When the final assembly is complete, the first flight done and the RV Grin is pasted on your face I am sure it will all be worth it. That is what keeps me goin these 450build hours and three years!

I too was a pay as you go.
That was one of the things I liked about RVs. You can buy it by the subkit.
I wanted it paid off before my first flight. I trimmed expenses by going FP vs CS, and paint by friends. Someday, I'll get that custom paint.

But in the mean time, it flys great and it takes us wherever we want to go & it's paid for.

Roll in the dough

Here's how I'm doing mine. I bet no one else has done it this way.

I retired from the Army. Ex-aviation maintenance officer...my wife and I opened a donut shop that produced another and another and...well you get the idea. I started my dream, a RV-7 about 2001. It sat idle for two plus years while I went through a divorce. I sold that RV-7QB to a gentleman in Scotland. About two years ago I logged onto this site for the first time in years. I immediately spotted an ad for a RV-7QB that was in the FWF stage. I purchased it and all the remaining items I needed to finish it. I know you're asking about where did the money come from. Remember all the donut shops that kept producing? Well, the sale of three shops has purchased 7 rental properties and has accelerated the pay-off of my current home. I only have 15 months remaining on it. The problem with the donut shops and the rental properties is they require time....a lot more than I'd like to give. Currently, my RV project is stalled out. Most of that is due to my poor time management, but I've decided I'm not going to be a slave to my hobby. I'm hoping that I'll get refocused soon and get much closer to be finished. I'd love to have a build partner, but so far have found no one interested in working on it with me. I know there are people out there, but as of yet I haven't found them.

BTW, I've passed on a lot of things I could blow money on. I've dreamed of a boat. I've wished for another plane to fly while I work on this one. I'd love to own that huge mansion. I do have money pits though...a Harley, my farm toys, a late model truck, and a travel fetish...leaving day after tomorrow for Hawaii.

For those that can't figure it out...keep looking there should be a way.


Rich

Some money from the National Guard before I retired, money earned flight instructing (part time) for the last few years, and left over per diem from travel from my day job (however not much travel now). So far no money from my (or my wifes) day job which may change when I get to the engine.

I was at an ATM yesterday when a little old lady asked if I could check her balance, so I pushed her over.
Pretty slow in Keller when you are done building.

I weaseled out and bought an already-flying RV-6. Wiped out my savings for a 1/3 down payment and financed the other 2/3. I drive a 15 yr old import sedan and a 13 yr old pickup truck and my monthly airplane payments are about the same as if I'd bought a brand new extended cab pickup. I'd much rather drive old used cars and have an airplane than buy a new car.

Never buy a new car or truck, just keep up the maintence on your old one.
Cancel the cable TV (only if you are single). Join the military (I was drafted) live in the barracks or BOQ and build it in the hobby shop. That is how I built my Teenie Two.
The main thing is to just get started, stay connected to the builders group and make personal sacrifices. Then enjoy a great personal achivement. Jerry

pierre smith said:

Live frugally.

The only NEW stuff we buy is food My wife's a retired Navy Commander and I collect Social Security.

She loves Thrift shops and I drive used cars/trucks/ bicycles in order to have airplanes.

Grill every Sunday after church and eat that almost all week...no expensive restaurant food.

I supplement my ag income by giving BFR's and occasional transition training.

Best,

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Pierre, Now if that is a propane grill, I want to thank you for making my dreams come true.............
p.s. and I don't waste money.

RV6A O320 fp 400 hrs.
RV6A O360 fp ready for canopy.
RV 3B ready for fwf. and maybe open cockpit option.
Might comply with light sport depending on medical exemption....... gotta wait that one out.

Airplane Funds!!!!!!!

... Well, I have my eye on several more airplanes that I just "must have", so I have come up with a method of funding this flying addiction I am stricken with. Here is how I am doing it and expect the big bucks to start rolling in any day now. We will keep selling aircraft parts until then to make ends meet. I have decided to lower my standards, bite the bullet and make myself available (for a very large fee of course) as a pleasure object to what must be an incredibly large customer base out there (Still looking for their forum?). I intend to market my services exclusively, to the very rich, 18-25 year old, virgin, nympho maniac, super models with a daddy or geezer complex! As I am sure, you all can see by now, this is definitely a winner and I have invested a considerable amount of time in the planning of this venture. I am open to any suggestions that may enhance or better this plan. Also I may need to hire a few more old guys to help, as the remote possibility exists that I could get worn down, eventually. Check the job board here from time to time for future employment possibilities. Best, Allan....

I think we just departed the "family friendly, grandma approved" rules...

Confession?

gasman said:

Pierre, Now if that is a propane grill, I want to thank you for making my dreams come true.............
p.s. and I don't waste money.

RV6A O320 fp 400 hrs.
RV6A O360 fp ready for canopy.
RV 3B ready for fwf. and maybe open cockpit option.
Might comply with light sport depending on medical exemption....... gotta wait that one out.

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Pierre, are you going to confess that's on a "Primo XL Grill"?

One lucky son of a gun!!!!!

Ok, heres one for you....
I dabbled in the property market here in the land of Aus for a few years and rode the property boom we had in the early 2000s. Made a good buck and bought an airplane and a few hundred acres of land, built my airstrip and thought I was home free.....then along came a friend took my lady and the property and everything else but left me with....my plane. Then beuracracy stepped up to the plate, stopped me flying, grounded my plane and left me with, well, didly squat!!!!!!! ....Hmmmm I thought, looks like I'll be working for the next hundred years to get it all back again! Then...along comes an angel...totally loves me and flying and encouraged me to start again. She financed me into a kit RV8, helps me building it, does not say one word about the money I spend to get this aircraft built...approx60% now...and have everything we need to finish it...the motor is already hung and running...and works her heart out to make sure we have all we need to keep going! We are both in our mid 50s, should be nearly retired yet here we are working to pay our mortgage, look after teenage kids and keep building our dream. I pinch myself every time I wake up to make sure I'm not dreaming!
There is a GOD!!!!!!

Spend less than you earn and invest the difference. If all else fails sell a kidney, you really only need one.

Take a look around the dining room table, there's a couple RV's worth of kidneys in the average family.

Jeez, many of those posts sound like a lot of work. I just married a doctor.

flion said:

Jeez, many of those posts sound like a lot of work. I just married a doctor.

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So that's where I went wrong...... 25 years on 9/11, so I guess it's too late to change.

flion said:

Jeez, many of those posts sound like a lot of work. I just married a doctor.

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I did too, but it's not as lucrative for some specialties and in some markets.

The plan is pay as I go, if I can buy parts as fast as I hope to work. Based on most of the stories of building, I shouldn't have a problem saving enough for the build, over the next 10-14 years. But seriously, I get a decent paycheck, live alone with my dog most of the time (the wife/doc is 400 miles away, hence the need for a fast plane), and have plenty of spare time most months.

I hope to be done in less than 2 years, but then she always tells me to estimate my time, double it, then square it. Units are important... 1/5 decade = 2 yrs, doubled is 2/5, squared is 4/25 of a decade, so I can be done in 1.6 years.

nineninefour said:

I did too, but it's not as lucrative for some specialties and in some markets.

The plan is pay as I go, if I can buy parts as fast as I hope to work. Based on most of the stories of building, I shouldn't have a problem saving enough for the build, over the next 10-14 years. But seriously, I get a decent paycheck, live alone with my dog most of the time (the wife/doc is 400 miles away, hence the need for a fast plane), and have plenty of spare time most months.

I hope to be done in less than 2 years, but then she always tells me to estimate my time, double it, then square it. Units are important... 1/5 decade = 2 yrs, doubled is 2/5, squared is 4/25 of a decade, so I can be done in 1.6 years.

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1.6 years? Well you put our practice kit together fast enough on the course

I'm in college but I spend my weekends cutting grass and working on the RV...a lot of grass cutting and sweat has gone into the project but I'm paying for it as I go. Fuselage kit ships next month so I'll finally have something to sit in and make airplane noises!