Finish anxiety

[hydroguy2]

I doubt I'm the only one who has suffered during the final stages of building, so thought I would speak up for those who follow. See if any of you fit this mold:

For 4 yrs I've been building alone at home at my pace. Now I'm at the hangar. The weather has been fantastic around here, so it's easy to have the hangar door open, people stopping by "ooh & aww" when you flying it. So the last week or so during the final assembly I felt a lot of pressure to "Get'R Done". Mostly self inflicted, but also don't want to let others down, also I have a paying job which requires some attention so I don't get fired. Going to work early, not sleeping very well, trying to juggle 17 different tasks, not to mention ignoring the family.

My hangar buddy gives me guidance and last tuesday said "you better call for the inspection" I'm waiting on parts for the cooler, Firewall forward needs tidy'd up. Now the FSDO says bring me your paperwork for review(bigger list that I thought). Weight and balance needs done for FSDO.....Build log needs printed, all 4yrs and 200 pages of it!....Engine start looming(where's those parts), oh well we'll do the W&B this weekend...What the scales are locked until the owner gets back from vacation in 9 days. AAAAaaaahhhhh! Serenity Now.

Time to step back and smell the coffee. I had to force limits on myself starting yesterday. So, worked on the plane for 3 hrs, then off to the Beer & Brats Fall fest with the family. Later we sat around the fire pit and did some star gazing. slept great last night!

Moral of the day: if you are a builder, slowdown and enjoy the build.

and no I don't know when it will be done!

[Mike S]

I was going to start a discussion on a similar issue, so I will just tag on to this.

Yesterday I did my first engine start, after a week of daily effort to get the plane ready.

Everything went just fine, and the engine works well, only a few issues with the efis, programing I suspect.

After I had gotten the plane pushed back into the hangar, I sat down to reflect on things and discuss the days events with my wife/helper/co-pilot.

In less than 5 minutes, I was sooo exhausted I could not even get up to get a bottle of water from the fridge.

I was thoroughly spent, wrung out and dragged through a knothole all in one. Laura had to drive me home, I would not have been safe on the road.

Now that I have had a chance to think about yesterday, I realize I had been running on adrenaline for the last week, and the time had come to pay the piper.

It is called Stress folks, and it can be there without you even knowing it.

Like Brian says, "Slow down, and enjoy the build"

Yep, took today off from the plane

[L.Adamson]

I took another eight years... past your four, and it fly's just great! Relax & don't push it! ...

L.Adamson --- RV6A

[TSwezey]

I think I was the direct opposite. It was OK now you built this beast are you sure it's ready to fly? What else can you test? I think nerves prolonged the finishing 6 months.

[LynnHall]

That question "when are you going to fly it", really started to get on my nerves after awhile. People were always just trying to be friendy, but it was adding to the stress.
Its your build take all the time you like, building is the fun part.

I also kind of got tired of the "when you going to paint it", lol always something.