Kit difficulty across models vs other kitplanes

[Grand_Kanyan]

Hey my names Kanyan, I'm a 23 yo aviation management student at OU. I'm not a pilot yet nor have I built a kit plane before. I do plan on building a kit someday while I get my license, but before I do I've had some questions pop up that may determine the type of flying I do.
My main question/concern to kit planes is the ease of the build. I am a huge fan of bearhawk from the standpoint of a company as well as the aircraft itself, but I also love kitfox to the same extent. While not perfect by any means, kitfox is up there in the high standards of manual and "buildability", but my biggest issue with kitfox is that they only offer two place kits that can't really carry a whole lot. In the future I plan on building out a bush plane that will allow me to fly my dad and I out to a hunting spot and give us the capability to haul out whatever we shoot. And this main goal is what brings me to the big bearhawk 4, or what I'd really like, the 5.
So, the big question is... How does the bearhawk compare to other kit planes in the sense of manual straightforwardness, access to parts and materials, buildability, am I going to be spending/wasting hours on end trying to interpret what the manual is trying to say or lacking saying, am I going to be having to fabricate more parts than that of other kits, (while I know of the 51% rules) what percentage of the kit do I get to just assemble vs build from scratch???
Sorry for such a long post, hopefully my point gets across and makes some sense. Thanks for getting this far, and please if you have any answers (preferably from those who have built other kits) please send any info my way!
Boomer Sooner!!!

[tailwind]

I am probably not the best person to respond to your question as I have built other planes so I didn’t need to spend a lot of time with the build manuals. I did find the materials helpful.
I found the kit easy to build. Mark has made several improvements since I built my kit so the build will be even easier to complete. The improvements that he added will help a builder obtain a better finished product.

[Bcone1381]

It sounds to me like your mission is a backcountry aircraft with a useable load of 750 pounds that is quick and easy to build. (400 pounds of people, 150 pounds of fuel 200 pounds of meat and camp gear).

Q. Why build?

Dream (that’s a comment. Don’t ever stop dreaming and don’t listen to those poor souls who try to keep you from getting in to the arena.)

Idea….buy a used kit fox to get your license, sell it when you are positioned to go for your dream, for The kit fox won’t fit your dream.

the shark that is closest to the boat you might want to slay is soloing. Do that asap. After soloing then it’s your private pilot license. If money is an issue consider gliders…a glider club. Inexpensive and it builds outstanding stick & rudder skills. That experience applies to powered flight.

re: the build manual. It’s not an RV. When you’ve built a bearhawk your knowledge and build skills exceed an RV builder.

[Morto]

Hi Kanyan, I wish I'd started this when I was 23! To be fair I was kinda busy flying and so on. Brooks' advice is very sound, glider pilots build very sharp aimpoint skills, among other things, which translates well in to the heavy jet arena, which I wouldn't discourage you from pursuing. I only bought my plans a few weeks ago and I've got 30 years on you

[Ryan Koeneke]

Hey Kanyan, I can't speak to other kits and ease of building. I'm a first time builder who had a similar mission as you and I chose to go with a bearhawk model 5. I'm 7 months into the build and I'm about to start into the electrical system.

It certainly has taken a lot of reading, googling, zooming in on pictures, stalking people's build logs, looking at plans, watching 500+ hint for homebuilder videos and of course the holy grail: watching youtube. I've learned quite a few new skills and I'm happy with how the build is going so far. Mark Goldberg is very helpful and other builders (some who post on this forum and some that don't) have been extremely helpful.

A lot of folks gave me the advice of buying a pacer, a 170, or a completed build to get some more hours under my belt and then upgrade later. They may be right and this choice may be crazy but I chose to go after the dream plane right away and the only option for that was building. The main reasons for this are financial (I couldn't afford a 180 with the same capability of the plane I want to build), I was scared of buying a 60 year old plane and needing to put in crazy money every year to keep up with maintenance, and lastly I feel like I've compiled a solid skill set to exist in the backcountry (whitewater kayaking, solo backpack archery hunting, permaculture design, woodworking, framing, plumbing, bushcraft, EMT training) but I lack electrical and mechanical skills to build/repair machines and I felt like building the plane could help me add those skills to the arsenal.

This project has enough to learn that I'm glad Mark has put a kit together that saves me from having to learn welding, fabrication, and repair skills but those will come next...

So far I haven't run across anything I've needed to truly fabricate unless you consider cutting/bending door skins or cutting lexan for windows but that was all pretty straight forward. There was a video from the 7kilofox on youtube that said "if you feel like you could learn how to and then build yourself a nice dining room table, then you should be able to complete a kit aircraft build". I agree with this sentiment and have found it to be true so far.

If you are like me, you will spend a lot of time learning and trying to figure things out. I too would have chocked this up as a 'waste of time' before I started into the build and there are portions that I wish were a bit more streamlined (hardware kit, etc.) but... after spending the time to learn how to spec the correct spring for a given task, I now feel WAY more confident to design/modify/repair different parts (seat rails, flap levers, door latches, etc.). I'm sick of reading the aero electric connection and the Tony Bingeles books but they have given me way more confidence designing/implementing/repairing airplane parts but also ATVs, houses, etc.

DM me your phone number if you have any other questions and I'll give you my $0.02 but just know its coming from an undereducated dude who's a few months into the build.

[Nev]

What Schu said.

[Bissetg]

Schu has summed it up very well, but I would add.

The Bearhawk does take a little mastering with respect to handling. But once you have you will be disappointed every time you step back into an old favourite aircraft.

I recently was asked to do a check ride for an old mate in a C180. I hadn’t flown one for years. I eagerly anticipated a fling with an old friend (his plane not him to be clear). It was like looking forward to a fast food dinner, once you’d done it you wondered why the hell you wanted to….

Sadly for my my old friend the C180 the Bearhawk has ruined me and I won’t be going back.

My buddy and I are still friends but I don’t lust after his C180 anymore.

Life has moved on and I couldn’t wait to get back in the Bearhawk and have real fun.