I'd appreciate any info with the good the bad and the ugly on these airplanes.

I did all the seals and ducts for the super sky rocket

Rileyconversions

GB

With the tsio550 it moves and is safe

Well,

Great 4 place P-twin. 200ktas in the high teens. Intercoolers are a must. Tight packaging. Lots of old wife's tales that simply aren't true.

Like any airplane, a well maintained one will treat you well. A neglected example will punish you with MX.

All the usual legacy twin rules apply...be an educated, hands on owner and things will go well. If you want to just drop off the plane and your credit card at MX times things will go poorly.

I used to have one and may have another in the future. Happy to discuss them but there has been some discussion on BT where I've written some stuff.

I was able to find some of your posts and they had some good intel. Did you ever use yours on grass strips? Talking about the merits of a C337 is like debating ROP vs LOP with some people.

I just bought one after vision-questing for a while. I read Ken's post about his and PM'd him a few times. I will do a write-up about the goods and others once I get some more time in mine. So far I am a very happy customer. I have owned an M35, TN V35(twice) and a C55 Baron. The plane is quirky and nobody knows anything about them. I spent a premium on mine because once you open one up and look at the inside you can see that mx could easily get deferred and it would be a nightmare to bring back to life. People say that they are really loud...The pressurized one really isn't. It makes a racket on takeoff but the cabin is quiet once you are in cruise. Mine checks a lot of boxes:
GOOD's:
1. Great STOL performance. (Better for soft/short fields than a lot of piston twins) no VMC.
2. Pressure
3. Air Conditioning
4. Easiest twin for my dad to get in/out of (limited mobility)
5. Does great on one engine..important for flying out of strips above 10K DA for me
6. Does not burn that much gas (as far as pressurized twins are concerned)
7. Cheap insurance (as far as pressurized twins are concerned)
8. Low acquisition cost...roll the dice...could end up paying a lot over time
OTHER's:
1. There are not that many of them around so economy of scale isn't there on STC's/Upgrades.
2. There are not that many of them around so I am sure parts will become a circus at some point. If I keep this one I may buy a train-wreck parts bird to cannibalize.
3. Even though the motors are smaller they still have all of the same components as a big pressurized twin...same costs to overhaul/fix everything.
4. Most of my missions are in the West at 16.5Kish VFR. If you are into flying piston planes in icing I have heard that the P337 isn't the strongest performer in ice. I can see that since the climb rate is not the best and there are a lot of pieces for the ice to build up on.
5. If you need to carry more than a few people this plane probably isn't for you. It works great for my primary mission (commuting). My secondary mission is my wife and I with 2 mountain bikes. I also take my dad to appointments etc...great access for senior citizens with mobility issues.

I am flying mine a few times a week and I will give more info in 50-100hrs. Feel free to PM anytime.

I maintained a P337 Riley Skyrocket. I consider these to have the highest Mx time Vs Flt time of all piston aircraft. Period.

I would count on 1 hour flight = 2 hours Mx. You plan on 100 Hours flying per year, get ready for 200 hours shop time for the same period, plus parts.

Just way too much stuff in way too small space, this is particularly true for a fully kitted out Riley that's got air-conditioning, intercoolers, speed brakes, de-icing.

Consider that there is a Janitrol heater crammed up front with all the other systems.

THese planes never designed to be pressurized. You will be chasing air leaks ALL the time.

The Riley, with all that junk, is basically a 2 person plane with full tanks.

Lastly, I found it to be very heavy and ponderous at the controls.

Thanks for all the input. After talking about this purchase with some other people as well as the feedback on here, I'm passing on the airplane.

I like in event of engine loss, there is no thrust vectoring to over come, other than standard P-factor of a single engine aircraft.

I was able to find some of your posts and they had some good intel. Did you ever use yours on grass strips? Talking about the merits of a C337 is like debating ROP vs LOP with some people.

My experience was very different. My P337 required no more maintenance than any other airplane I've owned and I've owned 16. There was very little maintenance required throughout the year and the annual bill was quite reasonable, under $4k. I never chased a single pressurization leak and mine always made full pressurization. Mine was also a four person airplane, useful load with intercoolers and air conditioning was around 1,300 lb if I recall correctly.

Ken you only owned that thing for a moment before you dumped it. You can't comment on costs of ownership over years. Please put some context on your platitudes as you try to polish that turd of a plane.

Hmm...Jeff doesn’t like 337’s. I like mine. People have horrible ownership stories for every make/model. Ken isn’t trying to sell the thing..he is just sharing his experience. I hope my experience is the same. Flew it 7 hours this week..I am not seeing 14 hours of maintenance waiting for me.

I owned it two years.

I know you despise 337s. That's too bad, they are great airplanes, especially the P337.