Nomex Maximus
Well Known Member
Those of you watching the classifieds know that I have sold my RV-7A kit. And so ends the dream of building and flying an RV. Here are some thoughts on the experience.
I had just become a pilot having completed my training in California in 2005. Times were rosey - high paying job, real estate prices kept going up and up, and a home equity loan was no problem in order to finance the kit. I even had a hangar for a time in Tracy - I never actually used it for anything other than storing the empty crates the kit came in, but I had high hopes. I was expecting that I'd be putting in 20 - 30 hours each week on the kit and that I'd be flying in a few months. Of course, I didn't budget renovating the garage into a workshop and the delays that would cause.
But then came a relocation for a new job. Time was spenting relocating the kit from the garage to a storage locker in California, then the delay while I moved and settled, and the delay while I found a new house. Then the move from California to Michigan, three days cross country truck driving to a storage locker in Michigan. Then the delay of renovating the basement into a workshop complete with installing a double wide door to get the airplane in and out. Finally, the kit was moved into the basement and a little empennage work got restarted. It was by then two years since I bought the kit.
Then, longing to get flying again and sick of renting airplanes, I joined Civil Air Patrol - and there went all my remaining free time. I did get an occasional spurt of energy and worked some more on the empennage but I had no real drive to get it done. I got the horizontal stabilizer mostly done, the vertical stabilizer came out pretty well, then the rudder was mostly done but I left off an important part and I had to rethink how to correct the error. I delayed a bit and started some work on the elevators, but that was about the last I did anything on the kit. Job complications, a layoff, and new work that took me all over the country made working on the kit impossible. It sat in the basement taking up space and literally gathering dust.
I toyed with the idea of taking it with me to a job assignment keeping it in a hangar and working on it in the evenings while I was away from the family - but the job situation was too volatile and I abandoned that idea. Plus, finances were no longer what they had been - getting a loan for the remainng $40,000 needed to complete was unwise. Time to admit defeat and move on. I posted on VAF classifieds and came to an agreement to sell the kit.
Am I done building airplanes? No, I don't think so. What I most think I learned from the RV experience is that it just takes too much time to build an RV (or most any kit airplane). Expecting the average builder to be able to set aside 1,000 to 2,000 hours to build is just not reasonable for a lot of people. I like many RV builders was overly optimistic about the time required and my ability to put forth the effort. I kept thinking that somehow, it would only take me 700 or 800 hours since after all, I bought the QB kit. My estimation now is that the QB kit doesn't so much save you time as it gives you a higher quality wings and fuselage. Even with the QB kit, I really think now that this kit would have taken me about 1,500 hours still to go. At least that much.
I actually do want to build an airplane eventually. But I want to design an airplane that is much easier to build - one that can be put together in about 200 hours of time. When I look at some of the things I was doing to get the RV built, I think "Gee this is a lot of work for not much results. Why did Vans make this so difficult?" (consider how much work you spent just putting stiffeners in your elevators and you may see what I mean). An airplane kit needs to be simpler to build - better more detailed instructions, simpler processes, trade off some performance for easier construction.
Ultimately, I just want to fly. That the RV could have given me some outraegeous speed and climb and it would have been nice, but I really would have been happier with 130 knots and 1000 fpm climb and a utility class airplane if it meant I was flying it three or four years sooner.
I did learn a lot about airplanes from trying to build the RV. But, if I ever do it again, I think I can design something way easier to build. I guess we will see.
Best of luck to you all. If you are building an RV, you have my repsect - it's a great airplane.
--JCB
I had just become a pilot having completed my training in California in 2005. Times were rosey - high paying job, real estate prices kept going up and up, and a home equity loan was no problem in order to finance the kit. I even had a hangar for a time in Tracy - I never actually used it for anything other than storing the empty crates the kit came in, but I had high hopes. I was expecting that I'd be putting in 20 - 30 hours each week on the kit and that I'd be flying in a few months. Of course, I didn't budget renovating the garage into a workshop and the delays that would cause.
But then came a relocation for a new job. Time was spenting relocating the kit from the garage to a storage locker in California, then the delay while I moved and settled, and the delay while I found a new house. Then the move from California to Michigan, three days cross country truck driving to a storage locker in Michigan. Then the delay of renovating the basement into a workshop complete with installing a double wide door to get the airplane in and out. Finally, the kit was moved into the basement and a little empennage work got restarted. It was by then two years since I bought the kit.
Then, longing to get flying again and sick of renting airplanes, I joined Civil Air Patrol - and there went all my remaining free time. I did get an occasional spurt of energy and worked some more on the empennage but I had no real drive to get it done. I got the horizontal stabilizer mostly done, the vertical stabilizer came out pretty well, then the rudder was mostly done but I left off an important part and I had to rethink how to correct the error. I delayed a bit and started some work on the elevators, but that was about the last I did anything on the kit. Job complications, a layoff, and new work that took me all over the country made working on the kit impossible. It sat in the basement taking up space and literally gathering dust.
I toyed with the idea of taking it with me to a job assignment keeping it in a hangar and working on it in the evenings while I was away from the family - but the job situation was too volatile and I abandoned that idea. Plus, finances were no longer what they had been - getting a loan for the remainng $40,000 needed to complete was unwise. Time to admit defeat and move on. I posted on VAF classifieds and came to an agreement to sell the kit.
Am I done building airplanes? No, I don't think so. What I most think I learned from the RV experience is that it just takes too much time to build an RV (or most any kit airplane). Expecting the average builder to be able to set aside 1,000 to 2,000 hours to build is just not reasonable for a lot of people. I like many RV builders was overly optimistic about the time required and my ability to put forth the effort. I kept thinking that somehow, it would only take me 700 or 800 hours since after all, I bought the QB kit. My estimation now is that the QB kit doesn't so much save you time as it gives you a higher quality wings and fuselage. Even with the QB kit, I really think now that this kit would have taken me about 1,500 hours still to go. At least that much.
I actually do want to build an airplane eventually. But I want to design an airplane that is much easier to build - one that can be put together in about 200 hours of time. When I look at some of the things I was doing to get the RV built, I think "Gee this is a lot of work for not much results. Why did Vans make this so difficult?" (consider how much work you spent just putting stiffeners in your elevators and you may see what I mean). An airplane kit needs to be simpler to build - better more detailed instructions, simpler processes, trade off some performance for easier construction.
Ultimately, I just want to fly. That the RV could have given me some outraegeous speed and climb and it would have been nice, but I really would have been happier with 130 knots and 1000 fpm climb and a utility class airplane if it meant I was flying it three or four years sooner.
I did learn a lot about airplanes from trying to build the RV. But, if I ever do it again, I think I can design something way easier to build. I guess we will see.
Best of luck to you all. If you are building an RV, you have my repsect - it's a great airplane.
--JCB
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