W

Wes Morgan

I'm New Here
I am in the Air Force and have decided that I am going to get an RV7A when I get to my next base. I should be moving in the spring and as such will be in the market for a new place to live. I have already decided I will only get a place with a 2 car garage or with a shop. My question for you veteran RV builders is this: what other considerations would you suggest I take into account? Is there something besides space I should be looking for or that would be helpful? Also, would you recommend ordering/buildling the tail kit and then crating it for the move?

P.S. I don't know where I am going yet, just that I will be moving.
 
Wes, welcome aboard!

I built mine in my 2 car garage and still fit both cars in at night.

Since the Tail only takes a few weeks to build, I would wait until you get to your new base. This way you don't have to repack it and risk denting it.

Good Luck!
 
Welcome to VAF!!

Wes, welcome aboard the good ship VAF:D

A two car garage will be just fine, you could make do with a single if you had to.

As was already mentioned, climate control is a must, as is good lighting, tunes, ETC.

Make it someplace you want to be, not feel you have to be.

Good to have you here, and thanks for your service.
 
For me the best place I could imagine is an unfinished walk-out basement. You're already paying for heat and air conditioning and it's a 30 second commute from your living room.

I have a fairly nice hangar, but it's 20 minutes away by car. Tough to justify driving the 20 mile round trip unless you can spend at least a half day working on the project.
 
How long will you be at your next base? If you are going to finish the aircraft there, then moving the tail kit would make sense. If you're only going to finish some of the components, I'd say don't move things anymore than you have to. You make it sound like you have a permanent home or place to keep things until your tour with the USAF is done. It's not difficult to move stuff around, but why put yourself to more trouble than you have to?

Just for context: I built the tail and wings of my RV-6A in the living room of a 2-bedroom apartment in Ann Arbor. Then I moved them to Chicago where they stayed in storage for 4 years. Finally moved them to Flagstaff, where I framed the fuselage in an apartment garage and finished it in the garage of my new house before finally moving the whole mess out to the airport to get it flying. I know that moving can be done. I also know that it's better not to move stuff if you can avoid it. My RV-10 is being built (mostly) at the hangar; some components are getting done in my garage.
 
My advice ...

...is worth every penny you pay for it. :D Build in your garage or basement or whatever ... in your home is much preferable to just "close to home". That way you can do small tasks here and there anytime you wish ... before going to work, while dinner is cooking, etc. If you're in a northern clime, make sure the space is heated; if southern clime, probably vice versa. I built in my garage for 5 1/2 yrs before moving to a hangar ... and always made sure mama's car had the garage for the winter. Mine suffered midwest winters outside in the elements for 4+ yrs ...an easy sacrifice now that I'm flying. :D
 
Wes, working at home is a huge advantage for many reasons. I would hazard a guess that the completion rate of projects built at home would be far greater than those built elsewhere.

This type of thread comes up repeatedly and you will get advice from those who say it is possible to build an RV in a single car garage, in the loungeroom, or even in a small one door basement where you knock out the wall later. And that may all be true. But it is a long way from being ideal. My opinion is that a double garage is the minimum space required for "organised" fabrication of an RV, certainly for a slowbuild project.

I basically find I need four separate logical areas for construction. The first is my workbench that incorporates my fixed tools and machinery (drill press, band saw, grinder etc). I fabricate small parts on this bench. The second area is for my assembly bench which is a large flat unencumbered area which is for dimpling and the assembly of larger components at a convenient and reasonable working height (ie. not working on the floor).

The third area is for the actual aircraft as it develops. The fourth area is for shelving and other general storage (eg. completed wings, etc).

Having the logical space for all of these functions will make your work environment more pleasant (ie not constantly climbing over things, not constantly losing things in the clutter) and will be conducive to building a better quality aircraft in a shorter time frame.

And if you can get a double garage or large workshop with plenty of good natural light, that would be a huge advantage as well. Lighting is like work space (and money)....you just can't have enough of it if you're building an aircraft. :D
 
Rupester said:
...is worth every penny you pay for it. :D Build in your garage or basement or whatever ... in your home is much preferable to just "close to home". That way you can do small tasks here and there anytime you wish ... before going to work, while dinner is cooking, etc. If you're in a northern clime, make sure the space is heated; if southern clime, probably vice versa. I built in my garage for 5 1/2 yrs before moving to a hangar ... and always made sure mama's car had the garage for the winter. Mine suffered midwest winters outside in the elements for 4+ yrs ...an easy sacrifice now that I'm flying. :D
Click to expand...

Terry hit the nail on the head.

I was able to stay on one side of the garage for my RV-10 until I started the fuselage. When my wife's car was in the driveway for two years, guess who was out scraping the ice and snow every morning.

I also ran multiple electrical circuits to the garage to power the compressor, tools, and plenty of additional lighting.

I can totally relate to Wes. My son is at ENJPPT right now and won't know his next assignment until next July. He wants to start building, but logistics don't support starting the build at this point in his career. He's try to talk me into starting the build for him, although I'm not sure I'm willing to start another one for awhile.
 
Great Welcome!

Everyone,

Wow, thanks for the quick and informative replies! Thats about as good of a welcome into the community as I could hope for. It seems like climate controled, well lit, and attached to the house are the big points.

Patrick, I should be at my next base 3-4 years. I am planning on ordering a quick build in the hopes that I will be finished before I have to move again. The thought about completing the empanage at my current location is mostly just to save time at my next base. I'd rather move the tail and have a jump start than risk only being 100 hours shy and having to move the entire project.

Bob B., as a follow-up to the two work bench suggestion, what are the deminsions of yours?

Bob L., best of luck to your son! I went through pilot training at Laughlin and remember quite well what its like waiting to find out which aircraft you'll be assigned to.

Terry, Congrats on the first flight only two weeks ago!

-Wes
 
Best would be a house with an unfinished walkout basement with a garage door or minimum french doors as well as a detached two car garage. Unfinished basement to build in. Garage to do things like spray primer as needed and escape when occupants complain about riveting noise.....
 
A couple of ideas to consider for your workbench/s

Put them on wheels.

As was mentioned already, one bench for fab work, and another for assembly is a good idea, if you can swing it.

EAA benches have been a commonly used design----search the forums for them.

Make the benches do double duty if you can----a lower shelf is a must. A band saw, and a disc/belt sander, and a drill press can all fit on a single bench, with room to spare if you locate them correctly-----and with wheels on the bench, you can orentate things to reach whichever tool you need at the moment.

Another thing is a good air supply-----Bigger is better as far as compressors go, and go with a two stage, oiled unit. I would suggest 60gal tank as a minimum, 5 hp 220v. Yes, it can be done with a lesser unit, and many folks have done so-----but go with the bigger unit if you can.

Good luck,
 
Captain AvGas hit important points ...

...regarding the four "zones" that accomodate airplane building. I had the same four. My worktable/assembly table was of my own design (I called it the BAW (big-a** worktable) and it was crucial throughout my entire build. Mine was 3 1/2 ft x 7 1/2 feet so I could slide it back into my adjoining shop area and still access my workbench. It was on locking casters, had a lower shelf, and 100V outlets on both sides. I'd never attempt to build a plane w/o a similar critter of some kind. The bottom shelf, by sheer luck, exactly accomodated the big flat box that the tail kit came in. Some times it's better to be lucky than smart. :D
 
Wes Morgan said:
Everyone,

Bob B., as a follow-up to the two work bench suggestion, what are the deminsions of yours?

-Wes
Click to expand...

Wes, here's a photo. My workbench (you can just see a corner of it) is 5.8 x 2.7 ft. Note that I have 2 rows of shelving above the bench.

My assembly table (in the foreground) is 10.0 x 2.6 ft and has a sunken recess in the middle for a sliding C-throat dimpler. The dimpler is removed when I require clear space.

I made these benches from standard metal industrial shelving components and cut the MDF tops to fit. It is relevant that I have an overhang on all of my benches to allow me to readily clamp items to the benchtop (a big plus).

These are very solid and robust benches. I find that to be a substantial advantage because they do not move when I apply load to them. One of the keys to good riveting is to make sure that the object being riveted cannot move about. When I clamp aircraft parts to my work benches they stay rock solid. On the other hand the benches are very quick to disassemble if need be, because they are modular and fully bolted together (no nails at all).

I run my workbenches parallel to each other and work in the galley in between most of the time. That's where I'm standing in the photo.

Hope this provides some food for thought.


image ru
 
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2 cars garage

That's mine, I did everything here except the large parts painting process

2cg.jpg
 
Walkout basement....when house shopping I wouldn't even look at any houses without it. What a great place to build, winter or summer...
 
ColoRv said:
Walkout basement....when house shopping I wouldn't even look at any houses without it. What a great place to build, winter or summer...
Click to expand...

Definitely would have been my first choice, but despite lots of looking, I never found anything like what I wanted, so two-car garage it was. Plenty of room so far, probably because I'm still on the tail. :D
 
ColoRv said:
Walkout basement....when house shopping I wouldn't even look at any houses without it. What a great place to build, winter or summer...
Click to expand...

So I'm struggling at the moment between that unfinished walkout or the garage. I'm fortunate enough to have French doors in a corner of the basement (standard height doors) but my concern is being able to get the fuselage out after it's completed. Is this likely to be an issue? (Or to put it another way, am I going to have to tell my wife at some point "yes honey, I can do the brickwork above the door now that I need to remove it")
 
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