True confessions time. I started my Van’s RV-8A project 20 years ago. I went out of the gate strong. For the first five years I would work on my project almost every weekday. After work I would have dinner, watch the evening news and then withdraw to the basement, which I lovingly titled “Tranquility Base.”
Like others, I had a 15-minute rule. You had to spend at least 15 minutes on the project every night. The hardest day was Monday. For some reason, I was always exhausted after work on Monday evenings. I would drag myself into the shop, dead set on spending only 15 minutes tidying up or reviewing the plans. However, I would get some symphony music playing, go over the drawings and, before you knew it, I would look up and realize that I had been drilling and riveting until 11 p.m.
I made great progress in those first five years. Then came the God-awful divorce. I called it the “big tornado.” It sucked up my house, my classic Corvette, and half of my retirement. Nothing puts the quietus on happy riveting like such an emotional upheaval.
That’s not the point, however. My homebuilding brethren have suffered project interruptions for a host of reasons—kids in college, caring for aging parents, careers, etc. There can even be joyous reasons for a delayed return to construction, such as a happy remarriage, travel with your spouse, or time with the grandkids.
Whatever the reason or circumstance, the most important step necessary to accomplish our goal of achieving a first flight is getting back into the game. Whatever happened before, we have to dedicate ourselves to construction in exactly the same way we did on the very first day of the build. You can set a goal, say getting into the air in the year 2026, but the first step is to physically get back into the shop and deploy the sacred 15-minute rule.
Of course the first couple of weeks will be spent clearing out and organizing the shop. My sweet wife has ceded me two bays of our three-car garage. Unfortunately, over the past few years it has become the repository of everything from half bags of fertilizer to Christmas decorations. The job looks insurmountable, but you simply start in one corner and then clean and organize the space one square foot at a time. Your environment is key. Make sure the shop is comfortable and filled with your favorite music. I finally installed a mini-split air conditioning unit in my garage, which made all the difference. Also, one of the few gifts of advancing age is that I can pipe Beethoven directly into my head through my Costco hearing aids.
My shop cleanup has been a massive project, but I have been working a little every day and the progress is invigorating. I am now back on the plans and trying to retackle my firewall forward. My goal is to work every day, but I keep my eyes on the prize, that first flight on Thursday. When I get closer, I will tell you which Thursday.
I hope you’re able to finish your project soon. Ifmyou had to do it all over again, would you do it?
I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! Work in the shop is a joy. You get a sense of accomplishment with every step. I just have to keep on advancing till that first flight.
Keep at it Steve. It’s worth it. Mine took 13 years. All sorts of interruptions. You are exactly correct. Your ship must me your oasis. If it’s not a pleasant place, you’ll avoid it. I still clean and organize my shop even since my bird is in the hangar. I always have another project. Be well.