Kyle Boatright wrote:
"Cal Vanize" wrote in message
...

Thinking of building. Have been looking around and not found the kind of
selection I though was available. Found Zenith, Sonex and Vans. Of the
three, I'm looking a little harder at the two seaters from Vans (RV-7
and -9) and Zenith (Zodiac XL). Obviously different performance but costs
don't seem that much different.

Would anyone be willing to share their experiences with building kits from
these companies? Any comments on flight characteristics of these planes?
Reliability? Any information to share? Reputation? Etc?

I stopped flying a little over 30 years ago but have ~ 1200 hours and a
CASMELI.

I'm in the midwest U.S.

TIA,

CV


The RV kits are great and the aircraft are tremendous fun to fly. Their
high performance is great after years of flying 100 knot airplanes. Van's
designs may be the only homebuilts where a builder can consistantly get
his/her money out of the aircraft if it ever needs to be sold. As far as
reliability goes, any of the Van's kits or any of the "Brand X" designs will
have similar levels of reliability as long as the systems are comparable
between aircraft. In fact, if you build a homebuilt with systems similar to
production aircraft, the homebuilt will have similar reliability to the
production aircraft.

If you do a google search for the Van's designs, you'll find a huge number
of builder websites and you'll discover that there is a huge support network
for these aircraft, which means you probably won't have to build in a
vacuum.

Good luck on your decision.

KB


Take a long hard look at what's included in each kit (meaning, how much
more must you spend to make it fly). Try to get a ride in an example of
each.You will probably sell yourself on one or the other after sampling
the handling & performance.

Charlie
Disclaimer: I'm flying an RV-4 & building an RV-7