Fergy, thanks for the info. I just looked up Inside Out Aviation. Jasper is a hike, but might be worth it.
Working on an RV shouldn't be difficult at all, pretty straightforward: aluminum airplane, and in my case, a standard Lycoming O-360 (hell, if an A&P/IA can work on a Piper Arrow, they can handle an RV...or should be able to). That said, I want a shop that IS familiar with them.
I also want a shop/mech that isn't scared of an 'experimental.' I had a shop over at KJKA get all antsy over the "experimental" part with my RV-4; the owner was worried about being in trouble if there's an accident later with his name in the logbook having signed off the "annual." Yes, we all know it's a conditional inspection with an 'experimental'.
But that was just part of this mech's hand-wringing, that it's a CI. Said he'd never signed off an 'experimental' aircraft before, wasn't familiar with an RV-4, never worked on one, didn't have any maintenance manuals for one, yada yada yada. It reached the point where I said, just put the damn thing back together like it was when I brought it to you and I'll pay you for the work. I was surprised when I picked it up that this guy had signed off the "annual inspection". But he did say, don't ever come back, that he wants nothing to do with "experimentals". If he said NTSB investigation and liability once, he said it 10 times. So, while Coastal Aviation Service at Gulf Shores, AL/KJKA work was fine, avoid them if you have an experimental.
