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How much spousal help required?

prhutson

I'm New Here
I'm considering selling my half of a C182 and embarking on an RV-14 QuickBuild. What % of the riveting in an RV-14A will require a second pair of hands to hold the bucking bar (or riveter)?
 
I?d say about 500 of the 20000+ rivets needs help.

I am almost done and have almost exactly 2100 hours of my own time in the build. There are 50-100 additional hours by others.

Just for curiosity, why would you need to buck 20K rivets in a quick build?
 
I found that you can do most of the riveting yourself (not all) but for me it wasn't worth the risk of the gun slipping to try and do it myself. The results when someone else was helping was virtually always better.
 
I did vast majority of it myself but the wing bottom skin and the top skin of the tail cone required a second pair of hands.
 
I had a lot of help from my co-builder. She kept things organized and was there to hand me tools. Priceless. Took me only 14 months with her help, otherwise I'd still be going at it a year later, spending most of my time trying to find where I put that tool I just used 3 minutes ago :D :eek: :p
 
Welcome to VAF

Paul, welcome aboard the good ship VAF.

The real help you need from your spouse is not rivets, it is support for the duration of the build.

Good luck, and keep pounding them rivets.
 
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Be careful when you teach her how to rivet.
It may end up costing you another $100K. (She might want her own.) :D
 
His and Hers

Good point, Katie. I had to buy my own electric bike because I couldn't keep up with her when she got hers.
Thanks all for the replies. It is reassuring that not all need a helper. More fun to have company, tho.
Paul
 
Be careful when you teach her how to rivet.
It may end up costing you another $100K. (She might want her own.) :D

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