With nothing on TV and nowhere to travel, I'm thinking now may be the perfect time to build an RV. I'm leaning towards the RV-8 as I've wanted a taildragger for a long time and they just look cool.

I would do a quickbuild kit. The Van's site is saying 1200-1500 hours and you save about 35% with a quickbuild kit. That should make it about a 1,000 project. If I can average 20 hours per week (2 hours per weeknight and 10 hours per weekend) I could have it done in a year.

Are these estimates reasonable based on your experience building an RV?

Also, I have a 2-stall garage that I could use until the wings need to go on. Is that going to be enough room to be productive?

You can buy one cheaper than you can build one. Go get some time in one and see what you think. There’s more room in the back than the 4 but it’s not ideal.

Head over to vansairforce.com. Incredible builder community that can answer all your questions.

I’m no expert but based on what I’ve read, 1000 hours is wildly optimistic for someone’s first build.

If you’re primarily interested in building, you might look into the Panther.

There are certain truisms and clichés in the experimental-amateur built world:

- If you want to build then build one. If you want to fly then buy one.
- Advertised build time is just a number; doubling it isn't an unreasonable estimate.
- You'll end up building "two" airplanes: the finished airplane that flies, and the rejected parts and pieces where you made too many mistakes and started over.

Two hours on weeknights and ten hours on the weekend, sustained every day for an entire year, that's a very ambitious schedule. Some people can and have pulled it off but it's very, very ambitious.

I'm not trying to turn you off the idea by any means. It's a lot of fun and it's immensely satisfying. Just make sure you do what's best for you.

Don't rule out the market of unfinished projects. Of course part and parcel of that is inheriting someone else's mistakes and customizations, but you can always redo the things you don't like.

It's good to gather the advice of your trusted BT friends, but the Vans Air Force forums are the best place for advice on building, flying, and owning an RV. The technical depth and the fellowship on VAF rivals BeechTalk.

Order a tail kit and try it out to see if you like it, and/or attend an EAA “Van’s RV Assembly” workshop. EAA offers a bunch of building workshops and they are really great.

There are a lot of considerations. I have had two RV-8s and now have a RV-7. The first -8 I bought because I, like you, thought that they were cool (they are). After flying in a Bonanza, my wife has no use for riding in the back of a -8. A friend approached me about selling it so I did. When I was between Bonanzas, another -8 came up for sale so I bought it. It is a nice plane (I still have flying privileges) but my wife didn't like riding in the back any more than before, especially when I got a nice A-36. The -8 provided a nice interim plane while the A-36 spent a few months getting upgrades. Another friend approached me about if i would sell it so I sold it to him.

A RV is plain fun to fly while being forgiving so I missed it. So, I found a nice RV-7 so my wife would consider flying with me for local trips, etc. When I retire, my plan is that I will decide which plane fits our mission best and (maybe) cut back to the one that suits us the best. For now, having both is a lot of fun and my wife is enthused about not having to sit in the back and stare at the back of my head. The -7 isn't quite as responsive but life is full of compromise.

I would try to get a little time in both and make your decision. I decided that I didn't want to build as much as I want to fly. I can't imaging what it would be like to spend the time building one then deciding that it wasn't the right one.

Best of luck!
John

Well, unlike the others who have answered so far, I have built and flown an RV-8. I suppose it depends on what sort of person you are, but I just loved the building process (you generally actually accomplish something everytime you work on it, perhaps unlike your job). And, once I was flying, I never tired of looking out at the wings as I flew along and saying "I actually built this".

As far as wives in the back, I have heard it both ways. My own wife liked it back there, she said she liked having her own space. Visibility is very good from the back except for straight ahead.
If I hadn't gone through a period of no medical, I would still have it. A wonderful little airplane.

I am expecting the delivery of a Super Cub kit soon, ready to repeat the whole thing with a little different mission.

+1000

Where are you spending 1000 hours a year that you’ll give up to build? IME, most successful builders take the time away from other stuff they were working on in the garage. If your answer is you’ll give up TV and internet, ask yourself if you really mean it.

You might build a Pedal Plane first, if there’s someone in your life to give it to. Or a go-kart or a tug. If you want to get the most memorable part of an RV build without the cost, buy a pneumatic drill and drive a #40 bit into your left index finger.

We have a bunch of these at my airpark. I owned a Harmon Rocket and my neighbors are building a super fast built RV-14 and 10. I think the regular quickbuild is closer to a 2500-3000 hour project. I recommend the super duper fast build which only entails writing a check.

Having flown them both, I prefer the side by side RVs more than the tandem ones.

Mike

Go for it. You won’t know if it’s for you unless you try.

In my opinion there are two types of builders. The get it done guys and the perfectionist types. I’m the later. Your build time will be depend on which group you fit into and could change your total build time by a factor of two. Your build time will also be highly dependent on how much work you hire out. Many builders hire out much of the panel work and of course the paint.

As for total cost, I disagree that you can buy cheaper than you can build. Your build cost could be anywhere from 40k to 125k depending on how you equip the airplane and whether you buy new or used components.

Mine is a slow build and I can assure you the quick build option will save you countless hours.

Robert

I built a QB RV-8 over a 3 year span 2003-06; I haven’t seen my build log in years, but I recall having right around 1000+ hours into it, but that was putting in a bare bones VFR panel; today’s fancier avionics and options will take more time. Finishing in one year seems optimistic as you will reach a burnout stage at a few points and have to step back and take a break from it.

The two car garage is plenty of room until it’s time for the wings to go on.

I was more of a pilot than a builder, never thought I’d be able to build such a fantastic machine... but it was such a worthwhile experience having done it. My wife privately thought I wouldn’t finish, that I’d give up on it... on the day of my first flight she was in tears and just couldn’t believe that I’d actually pulled it off. Guess I showed her! I have 1600+ hours on it now and it still makes me giggle.

Speaking of wives and back seats, my bride is one of those weirdos that likes her own space in the back; give her a pillow, blanket and book and she’s good to go! But, I’m solo probably 90% of the time...

Go for it man!

I jumped in head first last year and bought RV-8 tail kit and quick build wings and fuselage at OSH (they had a 'sale' ). The tail kits are pretty quick to deliver - the quick build kits are generally several months out.

I am thoroughly enjoying the experience as I just really like building stuff. I can't fully comment on total build time but think 1 year if you are a first time builder like me will be very optimistic. I can't count how many times I see builders on VAF saying things like 80% done, 80% to go or similar.

As a first time builder, there is a bit of a 'ramp up' period for stuff like researching and purchasing tools, learning sheet metal skills (practice kits, etc), setting up your shop, figuring out stuff like prime vs no-prime, what primer to use, etc.

If you go with quick build I can recommend using Stewart Transport to deliver those kits - saves the crating fee and much easier to work with when delivered.

Your 2 car garage is plenty of space if dedicated to your build. The available time to work on the thing as others have noted is likely the biggest factor. If your life is full without building an airplane you need to give something up. Family time considerations are also a big factor. My family situation changed last year such that I now have more time and also needed to find a new residence so I leapt at the opportunity to find a house with a nice sized garage/shop and started building my own plane.

Regarding family time vs airplane time, I've seen one approach to solving that problem, but it's a very rare approach. If you can figure out how to combine kid time and airplane time, then you might come out better in the long run.

Suppose those two hours of airplane time every evening used to be spent with the kids (reading to them, playing games, watching TV). But what if you combine them? Give the kid something age-appropriate to do in the workshop, it doesn't have to actually be part of the airplane. It can just be a piece of metal to bang away on. Between that and keeping your kid safe, maybe you only accomplish half an hour of productive work instead of two.

The project is going to take a long time to begin with and this approach will make it take a lot longer. Either way, the family and the kids are going to live their lives the whole time.

There's the old punchline "aviation induced divorce syndrome" and an airplane project can be a source of contention in a household (although there are almost always other issues...), but it doesn't have to be that way.

Before you completely dismiss it as a terrible idea, ask yourself how much you're willing to invest to keep a healthy marriage and family. How much of those hypothetical 1½ hours every night are truly "wasted" time?



Just something to consider.

There is a lot of really good and true advice given above. I built a 7, not an 8 but they are very similar. I can see 1000 hours on a quick build unless you are a perfectionist or procrastinator. Build the entire project at home, the wings only need to go on to fit up a couple things. My airplane was finished, transported in parts to a painter, then the airport for final assembly.
One thing not mentioned so far is the time spent reading, studying, planning. Every day in the shop I had a list of tasks to complete that was prepared the previous night. I had never built a plane before and needed to learn about so many new things. Easily, I spent more time in preparation than building. But one day in the shop I got to the last item on the list.