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unmotivated

rcarsey

Well Known Member
i'm just venting to myself here.. im sure everyone loses the itch to build every now and then.. maybe over the winter when its really cold.. or the dog days of summer. NJ has been unforgiving lately..

I'm 97% done with my build. I literally have about.. the last 5-7 pages of the Canopy section to do (+ wing AOA, bolting the wings on, wintip light attachment).. and I haven't even wanted to visit the hangar since early July... just haven't wanted to do much of anything with it.. sometimes I find other things to do just so I don't have to work with anymore ... fiberglass.

someone here better talk some sense into me... i feel like that contractor you once had to renovate your kitchen... does 90% of the job and then you have to blow up his phone and beg him to come and finish the job.
 
Small steps

Just take the smallest of steps, a trip out to the hangar to look at the plans. Then climb in and make some airplane noises. Chair fly it around the pattern. Don't do any work until your next trip. Rinse, repeat. Sprinkle in a little work while you think about actually flying it. Next trip do a bit more. Eventually you're going to have a crazy thought that if you do just a little more this trip, it will be one less trip later.

I'm not a finisher by nature, and when I moved to the airport my motivation really suffered. The vision of actually flying it was the reason I finished it. That and the realization that I sank so much $$$$ into this that I better finish it.

In the end, it will be worth it all.
 
Go rent a complex aircraft. I am renting a 182RG and a 1.3 the other day cost me over 320 bucks! I am getting very close as well and my motivation has sky rocketed so I can have a plane a bit cheaper to fly! lol

I got the same bug you describe during the winter months. In the end, just think of how sweet it is going to be to fly your own aircraft you built. Now let's both finish this! :D
 
Go rent a complex aircraft. I am renting a 182RG and a 1.3 the other day cost me over 320 bucks!D

I actually just finished the complex endorsement in an Arrow yesterday.. it was something to keep me away from building.. and yes, most days, the bill was 300-350$.. i couldn’t even look at the receipts.. just told myself it was the only way to get the endorsement.. fun.. but man.. certified aircraft prices compounded by that horrible invention.. the Hobbs meter.
 
Go to the hangar - do a deep clean, put all your tools in the right place, step back and see what you have already done.

The fibreglass is a challenging bit on the 12's and we did 2 !

Patience and shaped blocks with 80 grit and plenty of electricians tape in different colours is the finishing tips.

Once that is done, the rest is a breeze.
 
For me, it was hard not to concentrate on getting finished but if that's all I dwelled on, I would become unmotivated. Instead I tried to concentrate on small daily goals and the feeling of accomplishment after each session. Completing a small goal became addictive to me. I have learned that this works on all the projects I do do now 6 years later. Mostly non aviation projects, in other words, boring in comparison to building an airplane!
 
Sell the project Rob. At this level of completion you will recover most of the costs.
But beware you might change your mind after a tire kicker or two.
 
If it’s just the fiberglass, I did just enough to get it flyable and let the paint shop do all of the final sanding.

I hit my wall when I got hit with a SB soon after I thought I was finished, and it was a big one. Had to re-do the landing gear mounting. Another bitter cold winter working in the hangar....
 
I agree with Vlad. If you don’t feel motivated to finish it and keep looking for reasons not to go to the hangar, then you might as well sell it. Alternatively you could pay someone else to finish it for you. Either way it would be a pity, having come this far.
 
same boat

Hi Rob ... I'm at about the same point with my 12 and need to find a hangar to move it to so I can put the wings on & check out those systems (lights, stall, AOA).
The fiberglass work was a big stumbling block. I was always so hesitant (lazy?) to ever get started on each component. But the tailcone, cowling, canopy fairing and finally wheel pants did turn out OK (certainly not perfect). Don't ya just hate all the sanding to scribe lines :rolleyes: ?!
One thing that has really motivated me was fellow builders. I've been lucky to meet & get to know several local RV builders & flyers. After visiting their workshop or hangar or chatting (phone, text, e-mail) a competitive urge to move forward, get something done really kicks in.
I must admit a strange feeling has been cropping up - kind of a downer in that I'm almost done, at the end of the KAI and have to tie up all the loose ends and really finish.
I expect flying it will be the most rewarding event of a lifetime.
 
Lots of great suggestions.

Here's another one: Get someone to give you a ride in their RV-12 and get some stick time. That will motivate you!

My plan is to finish my flying days in another -12 or 12iS. I got back into flying after a 20 year break in an RV-12. That led to Bonanza, RV-14A, now RV-10. But nothing more pure as a flying experience than the -12. Kinda like a modern Cub - but faster, easier to land, more comfortable....
 
I’ve owned a bunch of airplanes over the years and built several. Guess which model I’ve built two of? Like Turner, I will probably finish up in another 12. They just can’t be beat.
 
Agree with the 'if you're this close, maybe find somebody you can hire to help get across the finish line'. Or hire out the parts you really hate doing.

If after it's flying you still don't like the airplane, RV market is strong,
 
"A simpler way
and a better plan,
is to have it done
by another man."

As was told to me by someone with some wisdom.

Dave
 
I have done the same thing with a car I was restoring. I got to a part that I didn't like doing (or had little knowledge and experience at), and it sat for quite awhile. I was able to get a friend who knew a lot about cars to come over and help out with the part that I was struggling with and it was done before I knew it. I think the main thing was that I was afraid of messing it up, so I just didn't want to do it because of the perfectionist side of me couldn't handle a bad result.

In short. Go grab a fiberglass buddy and start sloshing some West Systems around, then go flying! :)
 
I feel the Covid-19 situation may be having a bigger hit on people, I included, than people think. Even if you are working and busy I found myself a little out of sorts. I have done very little work lately even with nothing but time on my hands...I am usually always working on one thing or another and now find myself just stuck in neutral.
 
I find that when the build gets overly tedious, I take a break and do something else.

Got a lot of insulation and sheetrock done in the hangar last month;)

Now I am back at the plane, got lower boot cowl parts mounted, lower engine cowl fitted, and top engine cowl started in the last few days.
 
Quote

A dear friend from work I had the honor to work with always told me as I left his office...
"Save some work for tomorrow, have some fun today."
It really rings true. Stop when it's not fun and find a way to have some fun before the say is done.
 
Rob I know how you feel. I was working on my plane in Punta Gorda Fl. and living in the Florida Keys. Irma came, wrecked our house in the keys. Ended up working on our house while driving back and forth to PG to work on the plane. It was four months working in miserable post hurricane hot humid weather. Bought a portable AC unit and had it blow on me when in the hanger. That was a blessing. My last four months of the build just sucked. But........when I got that Airworthy certificate in my hand it made up for it. Now with a couple of hundred hours in our RV10 I’m soooo glad I sucked it up. Hang in there dude and finish it out!
 
I am in the exact same place with my RV-8. The canopy skirt is somehow very discouraging, and I really wish I didn't have to do it... but I do... but I don't know how to do it, even though I do... I just don't want to... but I have to do it. So I chip away at it from this angle and that angle, a few hours at a time. LOTS of other life distractions going on around me that really sap my energy. But lots of great suggestions here... which is why I'm on this site right now before going back out to the shop and DOING SOMETHING. I will finish it... and it will fly... really it will...
 
Come on guys..... Just man up and embrace the flox, the epoxy, the micro, the sanding, the dust, the..ahhhhahh, ahhhhaahhh, ahhhahaahh - cough, splutter.

It gets better.....:p
 
good advice

A dear friend from work I had the honor to work with always told me as I left his office...
"Save some work for tomorrow, have some fun today."
It really rings true. Stop when it's not fun and find a way to have some fun before the say is done.
This is really good advice, I have found. I try to leave things at the point where it will be really fun the next day. Something to look forward to doing.

Also, when I go into the shop, I always do some "warm up" - stuff that's easy, not critical, perhaps doesn't really move the project along, but gets my mind into the game.

When it's time to sand fiberglass, I make sure that the shop is cold, so I want to put the mask on - it warms me up. If you are in summer time, crank up the AC. If you don't have a good AC in the shop, get one, or move somewhere cold! :D
 
At one point I lost motivation... Then had a visit from owners of a beautiful example of the aircraft. They flew both my wife and me (she flew my wife, he flew me). Motivation problem solved.

There are jobs that will get you down, especially the composites work. Get help, professional help. Often the job that we perceive as a mountain to climb is actually more of a molehill once we understand the quick and easy ways to get it done. (Yeah, I was like that with glass work, too... then I paid a master glass guy to spend a week with me, where I drank from a firehose. Now glass work is pretty much a cake walk for me. Now I know a bunch of the shortcuts to make it fast and easy!)
 
Have you considered that you are afraid to finish? You have poured a lot of time and effort, probably the build is part of you now - who you are, etc... What are you doing to do/be when you are no longer building..... I think that is more common as large endeavors such as this are nearly over. Guys just don't like to talk about it. I always told my kids "what do you do the day after you win the olympics?" You have to think about that.(not that my kids where close, but you can't loose who you are over what you do for fun) Many of my friends are at the age that they are giving up flying after 50-70 years of it. They don't want to and it isn't easy. Those who previously thought about it are doing much better than those who hadn't.
Perhaps something to think about....
 
"What do you do the day after you win the Olympics?" Those who previously thought about it are doing much better than those who hadn't.

I'm going to add this to compartment in my brain labeled "How to get through life"
 
Have you considered that you are afraid to finish? You have poured a lot of time and effort, probably the build is part of you now - who you are, etc... What are you doing to do/be when you are no longer building..... I think that is more common as large endeavors such as this are nearly over. Guys just don't like to talk about it. I always told my kids "what do you do the day after you win the olympics?" You have to think about that.(not that my kids where close, but you can't loose who you are over what you do for fun) Many of my friends are at the age that they are giving up flying after 50-70 years of it. They don't want to and it isn't easy. Those who previously thought about it are doing much better than those who hadn't.
Perhaps something to think about....

Good points... but I don't think they apply to me. I was always 50/50 in the want-to-build/want-to-fly camps; when I'm done building I'll be able to focus the rest of my life on becoming the best RV-8 pilot I can become. That's what I'm REALLY looking forward to... and what keeps my motivation from disappearing completely at times.
 
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