Buying a used kitfox

First, I want to thank all those that gave advice in my hopes of ordering. However, I’ve decided that for now I want to fly sooner than building a kitfox would allow. So if I can impose again, I’d like advise on going about purchasing a previous owed/loved kitfox. It will be my first airplane, so I’m kinda clueless. What kinda gotchas are there? What do you look for? How do you know if it’s a quality build? Who should I have do a prebuy? A regular A&P? Or, kitfox oriented mechanic? Do I need to do a title search for experimental? What questions should I be asking that I’m not? Thank you for any help in making my dream come true. I truly appreciate it!


Ps. If you know of any 7s for sale, let me know. Please. 😁

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Originally Posted by littlecricket

Ps. If you know of any 7s for sale, let me know. Please. 😁

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The only airplane I've ever purchased was a 1973 certified plane, and that was purchased to start a flying club. I learned a lot, but I'm not sure it translates well to buying a 1990 or newer airplane. The two things I can say:
1) It is best to buy something that has been flying regularly.
2) If it has a couple decades of life on it, some things will almost certainly break when you start flying it, so leave some room in your budget to handle little surprises. At least in the experimental world, it's easier to keep the repair costs under control.

The other thing is that if you want a 7, you need to be ready to move on it when you find the right one. They don't come on the market often, and are sold within days when they do. An airplane is not a purchase that you ideally rush into, but you probably won't have a month to arrange your pre-buy, figure out insurance, etc.

I think almost anyone who has built one could look at one for you and tell you if it’s good or bad with the exception of hidden engine issues. But you could put the condition of sale on an oil analysis unless they can provide history of them.

What does 7 go for ballpark? I am building a 7 STI with all the options. Putting an edge turbo 912 with efis. Going to be 90k into it. Ouch!

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Originally Posted by Shadowrider

What does 7 go for ballpark? I am building a 7 STI with all the options. Putting an edge turbo 912 with efis. Going to be 90k into it. Ouch!

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I think that's a bit of a loaded question IMO. You looking to sell ? ;)

Personally, with the demand I've seen trying to buy a used 7 myself, it would easily for for your "costs" and then some. Personally, I'm willing to pay for the time I know goes into building them. I'm looking to have someone build one for me now as I just can't find one on the market.

Why not buy a new RTF from the factory then? Cost of factory vs. having someone built it might not be much different.

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Originally Posted by tracstarr

I think that's a bit of a loaded question IMO. You looking to sell ? ;)

Personally, with the demand I've seen trying to buy a used 7 myself, it would easily for for your "costs" and then some. Personally, I'm willing to pay for the time I know goes into building them. I'm looking to have someone build one for me now as I just can't find one on the market.

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No I just barely ordered it. Estimated delivery May. Hopefully can build it in a year. (the sti wings comes build and pre-rigged. I am covering it with Oratex for weight and time savings) Have you talked to the factory on lead times for a certified kit fox and just buying one from the factory? I took a test flight in the factory kitfox and they are impressive. They will fly one out to you and let you test fly it. If you buy one they don't charge you.

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Originally Posted by WWhunter

Why not buy a new RTF from the factory then? Cost of factory vs. having someone built it might not be much different.

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It's also the only legal way to pay someone to build it for you. You can get as much help as you want form those willing to give it freely, but I think when money changes hands, it ceases to be solely for the builder's recreation and education.

*edit* The only legal way in the US... Apparently Canada feels differently.

I find it interesting that we have owner maintenance aircraft that are not allowed in the states and we don’t allow Light Sport pilots up here. Funny how governing bodies get hung up on certain things but think other things are fine. You could import a home built into the states from Canada that someone paid someone to build no problem, but you can’t hire someone to build in the US :rolleyes:

Also, last I heard, it’s a 2 year wait for a factory LSA

Yeah, my reason is two fold to not get factory. Lead time being number one, and two being the difficulty in importing it to Canada. Likely, from my limited knowledge, it would have to be registered as certified or owner maintenance. Both of which come with restrictions that I don't want to have with owning a kitfox. I'd look elsewhere for something different.

I think I've found someone to build mine. He's currently working on an SS7 that should be done in May. I'm going to take a look next week. He's built a Superstols as well. Lucky for me it's allowed here. I just have to put my feet up and "supervise". That said, i'll be spending several hours a week helping out I'm sure. Just have to get all my ducks in a row in the next few weeks.