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Slowest RV builder on earth!

Pmerems

Well Known Member
Advertiser
Gents,

I must be the slowest RV builder on the planet, or at least it seems that way this week.

I am off from work on vacation the rest of the week. By vacation I mean RV building vacation. So every morning this week I lay in bed as my kids get ready for school (high school) and wait for the dogs to jump in bed and wake me up from my RV building session (in my head). I don't know if all builders run through step by step what they are going to get accomplished during the day but I do. I am working on the tip-up canopy in particular drilling and fitting the Plexiglas and I don't want to screw it up so I think about my building procedures while a muster up my morning energy for the day.

As I head out to the shop I am eager yet cautious about the tasks ahead. Before I know it 6 hours have passed and I have only accomplished about 1/4 of what I thought I would have done.

I must be the slowest builder on earth! By the way this is my second RV.

Needed to vent.

Paul
 
Paul, I don't think you're alone here...I probably average 1/4 to 1/2 of what I thought I'd get done on a PLANNED out building day. The other days when time is short, I take what I can get, but the days I have a plan rarely works out... :rolleyes:
 
Well I started in Nov 99 on what I thought would be a 4yr (worst case estimate) project. I'm still at it. Thats the important part, I haven't given up. Some days are more productive than others but I keep coming back to do more. I just keep reminding myself there are a finite number of rivets and one day they will run out. :)
 
tick tock tick tock

I have spent 8 hours fabricating two 4 inch pieces of angle and two 4 inch bar stock spacers. I can relate. :eek:
 
One Saturday morning...

Paul,

I know exactly what you are going through. I am just starting to think about bending my RV9A sliding canopy frame to shape it correctly. It is there in place on the tracks for two weeks but I have yet to exact a bend. I am trying to get a mental picture of what Vans is wanting me to do, and I don't want to screw this up... but that is for the future to tell.

Like it's always been for me at every stage of building this thing, I'll ponder the task for an unlimited amount of time, read internet posts, ask questions, ponder some more... and then one Saturday morning, I'll get out of bed, walk out to the "hangar" and just do it. I finally arrive at that mental state borrowed from the movie The Shawshank Redemption, "get busy flying, or getting busy dying. That's dadgum right!"

Mike
 
I've been building since 2001 and probably will be for atg least two more years.


The airplane project is a welcome diversion from everyday life. I know...I know... "touch the project every day" and all that.

I work on the plane when I want to. If I don't feel like it; I don't. It's not a race ... at least to me. The plane will get done when it gets done.

I have plenty of things to stay awake at night worrying about. The plane project is never going to be one of them.
 
well look likes its the norm

what makes us seem slow is looking at other peoples sites and not seeing the time between steps. there are a couple of folks out there that go go go and more power to them.i wish i could. but i have a job, wife, and 9 year old son. i prefer to have them when this is done.i dont want to wake up and its over(his childhood). so i work when i can which in my opinion is to much. we hunt play ball, star wars, video games and all. i wasnt even sure this time last year i would still be alive but i am so i aint sweatin being slow.the old me would have been doen a year ago. but now i enjoy life a little.and build in the afternoon 3-7 a couple of days a week. guess i will finish 1.5-2 years over due. and if i dont ,,,well, i'll have a nice sale goin on. oh and i forgot it took three days to get the canopy roll bar right....the second one and now i realize the first one wasnt that bad......just seemed wrong somehow. by the time im done i will have enough left over for a static display model :D
 
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Cheer up Paul

My origain plan was 2 years and 3 months. Based on Van's estimate of average time to build.

Well, I either needed more time the Van's estimators did or I didn't work as hard (as many hours per month). Thing will always get in the way (life). I finially finished it a couple of month ago. Well not quite finished there are still the wheel pants/fairings and oh yes the interior that is setting on the floor of the hangar.

I took 5 years and 3 months before my first flight, only 3 years too long. :eek:

My builder number is 322 and I was the 230 completed RV9. If the sales/build rate are constant that means the the average build time would be 7.35 years.
That mean that slow old me is above average (woopie) :rolleyes:

Just keep working the plans and someday you will run out of thing that need to be done before you can get your inspection.

Kent
 
Don't feel bad. I know one RV flier who took over 10 years to complete a "Quick Build". If he can stick with it, so can you.

I'm sure going to miss building when I start flying, in say, another five years +/-. ;)
 
Van's UFO kit

My neighbor has been building a 7A QB for 5 years. (I have completed all his glass work to this point.) My comment to him is that Van's will have a flying saucer kit out before he completes his plane!!!!

On the flip side, Mark Chamberlin of Phx AZ started a slow build 7 in July 2005 and has it nearly ready to fly. Should fly in the next couple of months.

Stay with it and the practice of doing something everyday will pay off.
 
I agree with Mike H. I spend an unlimited amount of time researching, reading and looking at other peoples sites before I attempt the job (so I don't screw it up). Because this is my first airplane, I not only need to build the plane but have had to learn all the construction techniques and tools etc... to do the job. If the construction manual were as detailed as the instructions in the empannage kit, I would have been done long ago. I would pay big bucks for step by step instructions for the entire kit. If I ever build a second plane, it is only going to take a fraction of the time. 90% of my time is mental preparation and 10% is the actual building. Dean
 
Don't sweat it. I've been working on a -6A QB since May of 2001, and probably am only about half way or so done (working on the panel). I'm looking forward to having a brand new "Vintage/Classic" homebuilt by the time I get it done ;).
 
Another Slow Builder

Lolly and I have been building N200LL an RV7A, SN/564 (slow build) since March 17, 2001. The engine arrives Friday IO-360-M1, prop is here in crate Whirlwind RV-200. The Emp is mounted and the wings are wired and completed having been fitted and removed. Slider is about done. wheel pants. leg fairings, wingtips and emp fairings all done. Next is the leg to wheel fairing construction. Then the engine and avionics most of which have been purchased. Hope to fly in 2007. Maybe!!!!! I'm begining to really want to fly it.

Larry and Lolly
 
Slow builder

Gents,

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

I have been working on my RV-7A since 2002. Had to build a shop first that took about 9 months (2001). I planned on 5 yrs so 2007 is my target. I ordered my engine (XP-I0-360) due in at the end of the year. Since I will have only 6 months before the warranty kicks in I want to try to accelerate my building pace.

I built an RV-4 (started in 1984) and had 90% of the airframe done in 2 years. I was single with a day job. The started a family and the remaining 10% took another 4 years.

I spend a lot of time thinking, figuring and measuring so I don't screw stuff up. I don't know how other builders blast through their project so fast without making mistakes. Maybe I am just more of a perfectionist then I like to admit.

Paul
 
building slowing up.

Things happen to us that impact our projects. I'm putting my project on hold for some time as I try and get a job and try and find a hangar again to work in. The project will sit outside until things shape up. We don't always chose those things that will affect us but we simply have to take it in stride. I'm close to finishing (90% done 90% to go) but all I can do is hold on till I'll be able to get back to it. I know you'll find the time as I hope I will and we can join each other in the air.
 
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