I haven’t been very active working on the project, but for good reason. As I mentioned previously, my wife and I are building a barn that includes a three car garage workshop. I debated for quite some time whether I should move the plane back to the barn when it is complete, or keep it at the airport. I decided that bringing the plane home would result in the most comfortable work arrangement and the quickest progress. The downside is that I’d have to complete the garage first – which is a big undertaking. Its going to be at least a three month delay in total. I plan to have the plane moved back by late January.

So far I have completed the barn side of the building. I have also trenched and installed the water and electric lines. Now that I have the horses settled and power and water its time to turn my attention to the garage itself. First I am going to tackle the ceiling and then the floor. I have a very healthy Christmas break courtesy of a new policy at work that gives us the entire week off between Christmas and New Years. During that week I plan to pour the concrete. That will give me a few weeks while the concrete cures to do the walls and garage doors before I begin using the space.

Here are some photos of all the progress:

Here is the future home of the RV Project!!

I borrowed a friends kubota with a backhoe attachment. It took me about 16 hours to dig the 250 feet of 4′ deep trench for the water. Then I had to backfill to a depth of 18″ for the electric installation. It was a big project – and the weather did NOT cooperate.

Installing the automatic water for the horse paddock was a beast. That culvert is 8′ long and 1100 lbs. The culvert brings ground heat up from below the frost line to prevent water line freeze.

The only thing remaining on the barn side are the dutch doors – which have not arrived yet.

Oh, and I somehow found time to get my Commercial Multi-Engine add-on knocked out. I’ll try and post notes at some point.