New LSA builder

[Bacon]

Hola from lovely Puerto Rico. It was a long road coming to this conclusion but the LSA seems to be a great all around light plane that suits what I intend to do. I posted on a couple different forums about Pegazairs, Bearhawks, PA22-108 Colt clone, Wagabond, list goes on, but after all that I'm back at the first plane I ever considered.

I'm a welder/fabricator that just moved to the Caribbean from New Orleans. After sailing, surfing, and hiking/MTBing various locations around PR and Caribbean, the natural progression is to add aviation to my quiver of adventure. I got bit hard by the aviation bug, it's all I think about. I'm doing online ground school now while waiting for Covid to lighten up so I can knock out my training as quickly and safely as possible.

I intend to scratch build so I cleared out a spot in the shop and started building big modular jig tables while I wait on plans. I'll start posting pics soon.

EDIT: in the time it took to write this, Bob responded to the email about plans. Looks good already!

I look forward to contributing to the community. I think i'm the first in PR, maybe first in the whole Caribbean? I'd like to hear from members that are near me if there are any!

[Bacon]

One of 3. Two are 4x6, one 4x8 made from 3x1.5 11ga. with 3/4 ply top. They have adjustable feet for table to table alignment, dead flat and overkill but will be using them long term for other builds.

[svyolo]

Welcome Bacon;
You might want to check with a couple of the big aircraft supply vendors about shipping stuff to Puerto Rico. Many retailers refuse to ship to any US territories because of mail theft. USPS should be the same rate as CONUS. UPS and FEDEX are full international rates. 3 or 4 times domestic rates. Bulk cargo from the US is hyper expensive because of the Jones Act.

I lived in PR for 6 months about 27 years ago, and spent almost 6 years working in Guam until 2018. I loved both places, but shipping was a PITA, and extremely expensive.

[svyolo]

I just checked on an order of 100 rivets between 98226 and 00600 (PR). USPS was the same price, as it should be. UPS was triple the price. Hopefully USPS is better in PR than Guam. I probably lost 40% of mail shipments in Guam.

[Bacon]

Thanks for looking out but no worries here. I get DOM tubing and larger parts and tools shipped down for my business frequently. It’s not bad when you deal in bulk, like everything else I guess. I use a freight service in Jacksonville to do forwarding/ warehousing. For Small parts, flat rate usps is the best! I’ve shipped about 100packages from Nola to here, not a single screw up. UPS on the other hand is a dumpster fire ha.

My shop is in Rio Grande, house in El yunque (Luquillo) I’ve been coming down about once a month since Maria hit but I officially moved in Nov.
where did you live while in pr? And My brother was stationed in Guam in the early 00’s while in the Navy (Seabee) still talks about as one of his favorite places.

[OhioLSA]

Welcome Bacon! The LSA is my choice also, but with the quickbuild kit.

[Bacon]

OhioLSA, I look forward to picking everyone’s brains. Are you in the air yet?