Sportsman without TWTT?

[KenA]

Does anyone have experience building a Sportsman without doing the Two Weeks To Taxi program? Doesn’t seem to be nearly as much ‘group’ support as the RV community but maybe I just haven’t tapped into it yet. I’m considering the Sportsman vs. an RV14. I think I like the Sportsman better but don’t know if I can justify the cost especially when the whole thing needs to be pretty much funded from the get go. The RV quick build kit, paid as you go, and being +/- 100k less is hard to get past.

I’m using the Sportsman starting cost of 200k plus the bigger engine, a better VFR panel, possibly the carbon upgrade etc etc getting you to 250k pretty quickly. The RV14 quick build is roughly $50k, $40k for a new 210 hp, good VFR panel etc etc getting to roughly $150? $175k? I’m sure there’s much I don’t know about true costs but it’s evident that the RV14 is certainly cheaper, especially if you get into multiple landing gear configurations and a dream of floats. I know I’m getting into two disparate airplanes with all that, but a dolled up Sportsman could easily go north of $275k or even $300k if you did.

If you could start with a Sportsman quickbuild at what their website says is $60k, all other costs would be theoretically the same giving a delta of $10k between the finished planes. Again, I’m sure arguable but you get my drift. The only kicker is whether the Sportsman would go together as ‘easily’ as the 14 without the TWTT program. Glasair reps at Airventure this year said they have only sold a couple non TWTT kits this year and he didn’t even sound knowledgeable in that statement.

Thoughts?

Thanks for any input,

Ken

 

[Cluemeister]

Have you joined the Glasair Aircraft owner's association? I think it's $40, but it's a great forum of Sportsman owners, more builders than TWTT owners.

 

[clear_prop]

I have experience building a Sportsman via the TWTT. It was my first build, so I can't compare it to the build at home experience but the TWTT basically starts with a quick build. With the quick build kit, the two fuselage halves are together, so that big piece of composite work is done. The rest of the composite work is cowling/fairings/wingtips/etc so much more manageable at home. The wings are conventional riveted aluminum.

Yes, the options on the Sportsman add up fast, but it is a great plane.

I second joining the Glasair Owner's association. https://glasair-owners.com/

 

[luvflyin]

I’ll third the glasair-owners site. I subscribed a few years ago when I was thinking about getting one. With a little luck you will find an experienced builder close to you. Where are you? Maybe someone here knows of one nearby you

 

[KenA]

I’ve renewed my membership in the Glasair Owners site, I hung out there for a while in 2014. Kids in college has postponed any building action but the debate in my mind continues.

I live in the Chicago area.

While at there site it appears that selling the quick build kit has become almost non existent these days. I’ll pose the question there now too.

 

[yakdriver]

I helped build a Glasstar kit and I have built two RV7s. He had the quickbuild option on the kit and it came with the fuselage halves installed. Very straightforward with a great instruction manual. Easier than the RV7. If you have good basic mechanical skills and have done some work on airplanes you won't have a hard time building it. The biggest challenge is always the firewall forward and avionics. If you stick with Glassair's engine installation kit it will eliminate a bunch of headaches. Dynon Skyview or Garmin G3 is not that hard to do. Just start on the first system and go one at a time and you'll get it done. If you commit to building try to do something on the project every day even if just a 1/2 hour to keep the momentum going. You should be able to do it in 1000-1500 hrs. Worth it as they are great flying airplanes. If you plan to fly in the backcountry I think you can get the Cub type gear option. Much better than the spring gear.