I'm adding this page so that there is a place to make updates without changing the text on the plane pages. 

01/30/07- A little change in format here. I'll put the latest news at the top, so the few who wander by won't have to look at the bottom, or think that nothing has changed. I haven't posted much in a while. It's been a terribly long summer ordeal trying to sell the Mooney. Windham airport got hit with a hail storm in July, and although the Mooney didn't get seriously damaged, there was definitely a value hit. I had one buyer put a deposit on it after getting a satisfactory appraisal of over $48K with the hail damage. Got a pre-buy done at a Mooney service center and they found nothing but minor squawks. Then the buyer couldn't get his financing in order, so he bailed and I kept the $2500 deposit. In the meantime, I settled with the insurance co. for a lot less because I wanted the matter settled before the plane was gone, lol.  I got about $7K loss of value. Most of the others at the airport got over $20K for their damages. Grrr....... Cest' la vie ( or something like that :)) I also sold my honing business, just a machine really, for about $5k, and started a new job this summer. Using my newfound cash, I paid off the remaining debt from the last killer annual, and had about $5k left when I spotted a RV-7 wing kit for sale on Barnstormers only about 100 miles away for $3500. Made some calls, took a ride, and am now the proud owner of wing kit #10.  So I have plenty of parts to build to keep me out of trouble for a while, yeah!!

    I pulled the Mooney off the market for now. It's just way too much of a headache dealing with people who want something for nothing. I must have spent 60-80 hours dealing with people who never even bothered to see the plane. I only had 1 person actually come to the plane. She's running great, and the annual is due in March. So I'll worry about what to do when I'm done building the wings. By then I may have enough saved to just go ahead and order the fuse kit. I know that since I made the decision to forget about selling, and finish the RV when I finish it, I'm enjoying building a lot more. Taking a little more time to study the plans, or get it just right is very satisfying. I'm on the ailerons now, flaps are next and then the wing will take over the shop.

 05/06 Things have been slow in May. My effort to sell the Mooney has not been paying off at all. Over $200 in advertising has only brought one solid offer of $52K, a pitifully small one for the Mooney. I'm undecided at this point about whether or not it is better just to bail out of it for whatever I can get, or to hold out for a little more. The market is very weak from a sellers standpoint, and there are well over 80  "C" model Mooneys on the market now. Of course, the longer I hold on to it, the less RV money I have. But I can go flying :) I put an updated panel in, and I'll probably try again this month to move it. The insurance is up at the end of the month, and I'd really like to not have to write the check for that.

So the RV progress has been zippo this month, the Mooney and house projects have taken up my time. At this point most of the major construction on the tail surfaces is complete, so I'll just have to be content on finishing everything up for now. I'm very glad that I haven't ordered the wing kit yet. I was very tempted to do so since I figured the Mooney would sell in the amount of lead time that a wing kit takes. That would have left me holding the bag for $6K. Ouch!

Update- 06/13/06-  I'm showing the plane tomorrow night for the 1st time since she's been for sale. Figures, I had a great ride last night and landed thinking maybe I shouldn't sell, lol. I know my debt load is far too high on the plane right now, and it would be very hard to keep and use her as much as I want too. It's hard to put gas in and pay the banker. And the mechanic. And there's still an awful lot of 40 yr old parts on the plane. Oh yeah, and put money away for retirement too. No, life would be better with a brand new plane that I owned.

( Dave <-- talking himself into doing the right thing)