Back in the saddle

[TShort]

All-

Just getting back into things after what's now a 4 year break .... can't believe it has been that long (couple of moves, then got married, moved again). Getting the new shop set up and ready to resume work on the -8.

Here's my question.

I have done OK with the airframe / general construction decisions. What is tough for me is wading through all the options and choices and coming up with a plan for all the decisions regarding wiring, avionics, etc etc. It's one thing when there are specific plans and instructions, but another when there are all kinds of options and decisions to be made. I realize that there is no "answer" to this, but was wondering how you all have approached this. Any thoughts on how to streamline or compartmentalize the decision making process?

Thanks!
T.

[NickAir]

Option choices:

Define your mission/s with your intended/likely flying.
Your mission needs will identify the level of options to consider.

Example:
IFR vs VFR; extended cross country vs local $100 hamburger flights; High Altitude flying vs Under 14K; Grass, Dirt, Gravel strips vs Paved Modern Runways; Advanced Aerobatics vs Occasional basic positive G Loops and Rolls; Night flying vs Mostly Day flight; Cold weather flying vs moderate to warm weather flying; etc... These issues and more are your direction for options as well as which levels of options you will even want to consider.

Summary:
Mission needs should be a priority compared to latest and greatest choices of others. Build for your needs. Meet your mission/s first, then get the extras you want as toys. Never saw an RV that I did not like. (except one RV3, bad build) Others on VAF have incredible insight and experience to share. You are on the right path of intel gathering by asking what others think.

VAF is likely your best place to do initial research. After a RV6 and now a RV7, I am still learning from people on the VAF, regularly.

[longranger]

Originally Posted by TShort

All-

Just getting back into things after what's now a 4 year break .... can't believe it has been that long (couple of moves, then got married, moved again). Getting the new shop set up and ready to resume work on the -8.

T.

Welcome back!

[panhandler1956]

Welcome back!

I felt that same way at several points in the build. What you're finding is there are several dependencies that exist driving a lot of the decisions that need to be made.

Start big to small.

Like Nick said, "define your mission", that will get you started. As part of this you'll have to determine your own comfort level with redundencies, maintainability, complexity, safety, etc.

Put in all the variables such as budget (the biggest one for most), physical realstate, again complexitity, ergonomics, availability (read: lead times to deliver certain parts) - to name a few.

Avionics is the hardest, you need to wait as long as possible to get the most current stuff, but if you wait too long you get log-jammed waiting for hardware to come in so you can get it installed.

And work your way down (big to small) to the point you can sit down and draw on a piece of paper where the wiring runs and hardware will actually go in the physical airframe. Once you have that, building and other decisions can commence without too much fanfare.

My 2 cents - YMMV.