RV-6 Refurbishment

I began 2024 with a plan to completely renew my RV-6, N44PH. The airplane was built during years 2000, 2001, and 2002, and first flew on July 1, 2002. During the interveneing 22 years, I flew the airplane some 600 plus hours traveling all over the country, but only once to Oshkosh for Airventure 2022. On that trip, I flew with my friend Dave von Linsowe and his RV-6 from Vero Beach to Traverse City, MI, where we stayed with another good friend, Mike Stimac, and enjoyed his exceptional hospitality, got to know the area really well. Mike also has an RV-6, and the three of us flew to Oshkosh together for the big show and had a great time.

So my plan was to fix a few things that I was never quite satisfied with during the build, and at the same time complete an annual condition inspection that was due anyway in February. The engine cowl had been built the conventional way with hinges and hinge pins fastening the cowl halves together. I had become an admirer of the Skybolt system and really thought not only did it improve the aethetics but made installing and removing the cowl much easier. So, serendipitously, my friend Tom Savrda happened to have a new RV-6/RV-7 cowl in his hangar that he was not using on his RV-7 build because he had gone with a Sam James setup. Fortunately, he sold it to me very reasonably.

Living the whole time in Florida with its salty air, I had accumulated a few areas of filiform corrosion especially on the belly of the airplane, plus the original paint job was beginning to show its age, so at the end of the condition inspection, I planned to take the airplane to Mike Dodson in Sebastian for a complete paint strip, alodine, prime, and new paint.

Work in progress...please come back later.