How many hours to complete a Long Ez?

[Labpilot]

How many hours on average does it take to finish a Long Ez? If I start this Friday will I be finished by this Sunday? I am just kidding. Has anybody heard of an average hours to build? I know it will vary a lot between builders. I read 3,000 hours somewhere but I don’t remember where I read that. Would that be close?

[Bill James]

I know of a Cozy that was built in about 15 months, but with a very adaptable work schedule. Never have been in that good of a work situation myself. Numbers of hours building has never been a useful reference for me. During the five years i found a comfort zone that has worked in several areas of my life, where i told myself that I could fly the airplane in two months if i really pushed. The List was satisfying because it was always there in front of me with more and more items marked off and eventyally fewer added and remaining. Sure enough, along the way I finished in two months. Satisfaction and happiness are funny things. I got comfortable once the parts were stacked in the garage. I never expected the plane to make me happy. That was already done. At first it seems like everyone is flying but you. Once you are building you are part of the movement. You are overwhelmed and frustrated with a half finished airplane, not aware that hundreds or maybe thousands would be thrilled to be where you are in that dusty workshop. When you are flying, you still won't be satisfied, but you will be in the middle of something amazing--satisfied and happy to your chosen level, and , still not finished. The Eze group is different than you expect. Better. Bet you find what you are lookig for, but it won't be from counting hours.

[cloudman]

How many hours on average does it take to finish a Long Ez? If I start this Friday will I be finished by this Sunday? I am just kidding. Has anybody heard of an average hours to build? I know it will vary a lot between builders. I read 3,000 hours somewhere but I don’t remember where I read that. Would that be close?

In building my Varieze I roughly calculated it to be around 2500 man hours over 4 1/2 years....plus an equal amount reading/studying the plans, setting up the shop, ordering materials, looking for missing parts,etc. That was just to get it flying. Later were additional hours to build and install wheel pants, adding a spinner, and..........other later modifications.
I originally underestimated my time to sand, fill and paint by a great deal when I told my friend that I would have his compressor back in two weeks and think that I still had it two months later.
I don't expect that 4 to 5 thousand man hours would be far off to buld a Long.

[Labpilot]

Thanks for the input. It sounds like what I was expecting. I am mainly only counting the time to get it in the air and then I know the project will continue.

[Linda]

I would make a few of the first parts and then ask this question again. You can then judge the answers.  Not to kill the party but you are facing some real problems being so far away from the STUFF you need in building.  If you have white hair then buy a project already going and if you are less than 30 go for it.
The building is fun.
EJ 

[A. Bruce Hughes]

"4 to 5 thousand hours" was suggested.

I might have put 5 or 6 thousand hours in BUT I decided to change engines, which
caused other changes.......

Then my advisor found things that had to be changed for safety's sake.

Then I found changes to correct the Cg.   Etc.

Then the engine had a minor oil leak.   Then ASSC sent me the wrong tachometer.

I bet I have well over 10 thousand hours in it.

The last part will be here Monday, I hope.

Bruce Hughes   

[A. Bruce Hughes]

Building will go faster if you have someone to help.   However how will you repay
a helper?   Work on his airplane?   Hire him?   I worked alone 99% of the time.

I recalculated my time.   Worked on it 3 days/week before I retired.   Then 7
days a week.  About 48 weeks/year.   Missed 2 years due to a divorce
(building an airplane was only part of the reason for the divorce).   
Now I can work on it only 6 months each year.   So calculations get very
complex.   IF I HAD BUILT EXACTLY TO THE PLANS AND NOT HAD
MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS, 4000 hours could have done it.   Maybe others
can do it in 2000 hours.   I changed engines which added 3000 hours.   I believe
that I have 13,000 hours in it and am still not finished.   

I think I can finish in another 25 hours. 

You WILL have unexpected problems.   Probably problems that NOBODY else had.
They will be problems that YOU created.   The more "mods" you make, the more
problems you will get.

The only good mods that I made:   (1) longer nose  (2) NACA duct (but now I
wish I had downdraft cooling)  (3) my own design - see the following:

The passenger/copilot has to put his/her feet somewhere.   The original
design just runs the floor and front bulkhead together at an acute angle.
You MUST put your feet on top of your spare clothes or ?    I put a shelf
down there (the fuselage has to be upside down to do that or you can do
it before the strakes are on and roll it on it's side on top of some sawhorses)

The shelf is actually in 2 pieces with little pull tabs on the edges so you can
get the shelf out.   You can put stuff under the shelf BUT it is hard to get
the stuff out once it is in there.   You have to avoid interfering with the
springs and mechanism of the landing brake, too.   The shelf, of course,
has to be a little wider than the length of your shoe.

Bruce Hughes
 

[Joe Person]

All depends on a combination of whatever pre-existing or intrinsic skills/craftsmanship capabilities you have, coupled with how well you truly want to make a safe, light, and well-integrated airplane.

You can do a Long-EZ in this way in around 2500 man-hours.  This does not include studying the plans, researching of all the other things (avionics, etc.), or setting up shop, etc.,  that you will do.

Bottom line is, invest the time to do it right and do it light.  If you accept anything that is substandard (even seemingly innocuous things), you work through on a project that will end up heavy, and less safe than a "clean", well-integrated airplane.  For the airframe, begin with foam cores that are as close to perfection as you can render.  Plan your layups ahead of time.  Have good help when you need it (cutting foam cores, doing wing spars and skins).  If opting for a modification of any type, make sure it is well-proven (by others), and that you know all of the integration requirements.  If charging off on your own modification of any sorts, be methodical in evaluating it, and bounce it off of a few other qualified people.

Be careful if integrating a whole bunch of independent ideas you may glean from forums such as this - the sum of the parts can sometimes be less that expected.

Go back and read of examples of canard airplanes that were/are stellar examples of workmanship - read about Fred Keller's Alaskan VariEze (October, 1980 Sport Aviation), or George Nopper's Grand Champion Long-EZ (Sport Aviation, 1990, as I recall).  Whatever you do, don't slather/slobber the airplane together - you will be far happier in a straight, smooth, light airplane than a sloppy, heavy one.  The few extra hundred hours you spend "doing it right" are far better spent than hundreds of hours re-working things.

My two bits,

-Joe Person
EAA Tech Counselor 4418
VariEze N79JN
Bothell, WA  (KPAE)