Prang Rate?

With the winter doldrums well set in, this spamcan pilot has gotten to
thinking again about trying something different in aviation- specifically
the homebuilt/LSA area. Something not too expensive to operate, on floats
(or a boat-hull) sounds like a lot of fun and might get me up in the air
more often.

I've been following some forums for planes I've been interested in, like the
Challenger, Searey, and Zenith series, and something that's been a bit
disconcerting is that it seems like every time I turn around I'm reading
about somebody trashing their bird in one way or another. It seems like I
hear about this a lot more often than with certified planes, but I studied
enough statistics to know that's not valid methodology.

My question to those of you in the know, is how do you feel about the safety
of designs like I mentioned above, that have been around a while and built
in large numbers, built the way the factory says, maintained to a proper
standard, and flown by a pilot who understands his toy is an airplane and
not a snowmobile or jet ski?

Best,
-cwk.