Mary and I (this is Lou typing) made the decision to purchase the RV-14 kit in April, 2023, and ordered the first kit for the empennage in late April. This led to LOTS of work cleaning out the garage, and researching and ordering tools, probably more than the 75 hours I estimated for this entry. Here’s a quick rundown: 1. Got lots of support from Paul Mantegna and Kacy Anderson (builder of RV-7 N69ER). I instructed Kacy for her commercial certificate in their RV-7, and got hooked on RVs in the process. It’s her fault that I’m doing this! Paul and Kacy taught me how to use their riveting tools on a Vans toolbox kit, and answered many questions! Also got advice from John Cummins (RV-14 in progress) and Greg Blanck (RV-8 builder). Mike Savino is an old friend building an RV-14 in Colorado, and he has started giving advice also. Thanks for all the assistance! 2. Ordered most of my riveting tools from Cleaveland, including air-powered 3x rivet gun and pneumatic squeezer. Cost about $3k for all that stuff. Also purchased equipment for spraying primer onto the aluminum parts, to protect from corrosion. 3. Got a Kobalt air compressor from Lowes, and then realized the garage wiring had too much voltage drop to handle the compressor start-up surge! Spent the next couple weekends (with Cale Skagen’s expert help) adding two new 120V circuits to the garage, and ditching the old wiring and replacing it all with new! Now the compressor purrs (it’s a very quiet one) nicely. 4. Got a big toolbox on wheels, and bulked up my tool supply. Including all the riveting tools and stuff, spent about $5k on tools. 5. Took some engineering benches that I got from defunct start-ups, added castering wheels, and set them up in the garage. 6. Ordered the empennage kit in late April (total $6,000, with $1,500 deposit). Parts are due in a few weeks, but Vans recently discovered problems with laser-cut holes (their new manufacturing process) cracking when dimpled or riveted. This will likely delay my parts, maybe a lot? 7. Ordered the Quick Build wing kit in mid-June. Vans estimates delivery in Q1 or early Q2 of 2024. Cost is $20,150 with $5181 deposit up front. So the $12k cost for this entry is about $5k worth of tools, and $6700 worth of RV-14 parts deposits. Mary is likely to take over this build log, for the most part. She will probably want to write a lot more than dry technical details, likely including the relationship impact of building an airplane, I think! That’s sounds dangerous. I hope she will also learn to do some riveting and primer spraying, but time will tell! Mary’s update: Lou and I have been married 32 years. We have 2 adult children (Emily 29 years old- married and a ballerina (with her husband a ballet dancer) with Madison Ballet in Madison Wisconsin: Martin 28 years old- living in Brooklyn and working as a Sustainability Manager and in a long term relationship). We are adventurers (Lou doesn’t think we have earned that title). For our honeymoon in 1991, we took a 3 month trip around the world. And from 2003-2006, our family of 4 sailed from San Francisco to New Zealand stopping along the way in many places. (currently at www.malindi.com but we are transferring this website). My music makes me happy- I am a vocalist and a ukulele player and keyboardist. Doing these activities at the beach is paradise! So yes, I will write the build log about the nuts and bolts and rivets but I also want to write about the beauty (and the beast) of sustaining a relationship through these adventures. it’s about supporting each other in pursuing dreams- and finding the commonality. I’m excited to share our journey and hope you follow along and find it intriguing.

Time spent: 75hr