Alex's Vans RV-10 Build Log

Aside from working on my wings, the last few months I have been busy preparing to receive my RV-10 fuselage and finish kits.  I originally placed the order for my fuselage kit back in November 2022 with an estimated availability date of August 2023, however with recent events over at Van's this date got pushed back. I was finally sent a final payment request in January 2024, and received the email that the fuselage kit was ready for pickup on January 31. After Van's initially announced their business challenges, I took a chance and placed my RV-10 finish kit order on October 30 2023 hoping to lock in the original pricing and my place in line, fully expecting that it would be a year or two before receiving that kit. However, in January 2024, Van's also requested final payment for my finish kit (at the same time as the fuselage kit), and I was notified that the finish kit was ready for pickup on February 21. As I had marked both kits for will-call pickup, I asked Van's if...

In preparation for receiving my RV-10 fuselage kit from Van's, I decided to place orders for some third party items that I am planning on using in my build.  First off are Beringer wheels and brakes. I was very impressed with what I had seen online of the quality of these components, and placed my order for this kit at the end of 2023. In addition to the standard Beringer wheels and brakes for the RV-10, I have decided to include the following options Parking Brake ALIR Anti-Skid Regulator Sensair TPMS I had previously opted to remove the standard Grove wheel and brake option from my RV-10 fuselage kit order, and Van's honored that deletion when final payment was requested for that kit, so that also helped to offset the cost of the Beringer components. In addition to the Beringer items, I also ordered the RV-10 wheel and brake hose kit from Aircraft Specialty Flightlines, and in fact placed the entire order for hoses and Beringer components through ASF. Since I am also planning...

The RV-10 wing kit I ordered back in January arrived at the ABF terminal on October 16, and I went to pick it up on October 17 in a 15' U-Haul truck that I rented.  The kit went into crating at the end of July 2022, and after a short crating delay was finally shipped on October 5. What should have been a 2 day trip from Oregon to California turned into a 12 day fiasco with my wing kit being trucked around the country. For some reason, the crates were put on the wrong trailer and instead of taking a 2 hour drive from Sacramento, CA. to my local ABF terminal, the wing kit ended up in Albuquerque, NM about 1000 miles away. It took several frustrating phone calls over several days to ABF during that time to finally locate my kit and it was then shipped back to California. I think when it comes time to get the fuselage and finishing kits I will seriously consider picking them up myself from Van's! Luckily, other than the odd strap missing, the crates didn't appear to have sustai...