Kitfox IV – What to do about damaged fabric and aileron?

[alienwes]

I can't imagine what 100 hours of shop time would cost! I thought the engine was the most costly part to consider. I have been corrected. Thanks for everyone's time and cost estimates.
Wes

[OliverR]

[...] Not sure if the pictures will show up if you're not a member
http://www.avidfoxflyers.com/index.p...-set-of-wings/

Wow, looks like you did a great job.

I have just about everything you would need to do a complete recover should you seriously consider that task. [...]

Good to know, but I guess I'm not there yet.

[...] ...what does IMHO stand for?

"In My Humble Opinion" http://whatis.techtarget.com/definit...humble-opinion

[...] Since the plane is in Florida you need to make sure there is not any corrosion on the airframe, lift struts, wings spars and attach fittings. This or any engine issues would make it a deal breaker for me.

Do you have anyone to help you look at the plane? It would be good to have a KF owner or A&P look at it with you.

Also, if all of the above stuff makes you nervous just walk away or see if they can drop the price accordingly. There will be other Kitfox planes showing up on the market.

No, it doesn't make me nervous, and yes I have somebody to help or to at least give me advise. My wife and I are members of a very active EAA chapter, of which at least one tech counselor has plenty of experience with tube and fabric aircraft. He actually echos the opinion, you guys are expressing: The fabric can be repaired, but that we should prepare ourselves to re-cover it in the not too distant future and that this will most likely also result in a lot of other work. Other members of our chapter also claim to be experienced with tube an fabric.

I have also always been doing most of the maintenance and avionics upgrades on our old weightshift trike, the Cessna 172 we had, our current Mooney and have our mechanic sign off on it. My wife and I are also currently building a RV-10.

I therefore wouldn't consider myself a pro, but I am generally familiar with aircraft system and also have people close by, who I can ask for help. The only area in which I have no experience at all is working with fabric.

Good to know that corrosion is a concern. I wasn't aware of this, as I thought that this would be not much of an issue with Kitfoxes, as they are not that old and since the tubes are made of CrMo.

I can't imagine what 100 hours of shop time would cost! I thought the engine was the most costly part to consider. I have been corrected. Thanks for everyone's time and cost estimates.
Wes

I don't have any experience with Kitfoxes yet, but heard from others, who had vintage aircraft re-covered, that typically fabric and paint makes up for only half the costs. The other half is stuff which needs to be fixed once the old fabric is removed. I understand that the costs to re-cover something like a Piper Cub can easily exceed $30K. Most of it is labor.


My wife generally approves the idea of getting this plane, but she cannot take the next two Fridays off, to fly for a weekend to Florida. It is quite possible that by the time we can go, the plane will already be sold anyway.

Personally, I am still torn between spending $25K to $30K for a nice Kitfox IV, which would however also have +20 year old fabric, paint, most likely a dated panel and an engine with several hundred hours on it.
Or, if we should rather buy something more like a project plane, which we could restore to exactly the condition we want, with big tires, full Lexan doors, a stronger engine and so on.
We might end up at over $30K, but everything would be brand new and we would know the condition of our plane in every detail.

What I really like about the Kitfoxes are the folding wings. While we will get a regular hangar for it, it is still nice to be able to fold the wings, in order to to haul it home and to put it in the heated garage for bigger repairs or modifications.

Tough choice....