Man, for that kind of money I'd be looking at the wide body thats for sale on the forum here...

Check this airplane out. Got all the mods you would want and its from a BCP member. Its not a narrow body, but for that kind of money you would almost be better off buying a wide body. More buyers at that price point when it comes time to resell.

https://backcountrypilot.org/community/ ... most-24602

Edit: damn Skinner beat me to it! I will also add this as it has been drilled into me over the years when looking for boats, and now with airplanes. It will always cost you more money to do the mods yourself than to buy them done from someone else. When I bought my plane, I got what I felt like was a pretty good deal at the time, and I can promise you, I have eaten up every bit of that margin with mods, and then some. Its a passion project for me so I don't really care (to think about it ) but at some point, we will all sell our beloved birds and why take a bath if you can avoid it.

I wouldn't touch that plane - if you have that much "surface" rust, you can be sure there is rust you are not seeing.. and if he has lied about that, and about the previous damage history - then nothing you have been told can be trusted (he can't even get his story right on the engine time in the ad! ) And while the panel is nice looking - that is alot for straight tail 182, other then the Garmin 430. the rest of that center stack is junk (for a 1959 cessna 182 priced at $119,000) Fresh paint job's can hide alot.

Blows my mind that you flew from Costa Rica through all that international travel trouble as described without a prebuy or at a minimum detailed pictures of specific areas known for corrosion. People's ideas of corrosion are vastly different so I wouldn't consider this the seller's fault.

Also... $119k hahaha

I don't know anything about Cessnas, but if the seller isn't honest, I'd walk.

A1Skinner wrote:Man, for that kind of money I'd be looking at the wide body thats for sale on the forum here...

I would too, Damn I would fly that back to Costa Rica in a heartbeat. 15K more asking price, But probably 40K plus more in value. Saying the old B isn't heavily corroded.

Are you sure this is still for sale? That was a really old post.

I knew this could happen so I actually packed spear fishing equipment and our surfboards and booked a ticket to puerto rico with a long layover in Florida that gave me enough time to inspect the plane. So no worries. I didnt fly all the way to Florida, then turn around with my tail between my legs.

Remember $120k was his "asking" price... Not our actual contract price.

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ington6 wrote:.

Also, if that's an early 182, it'll have a jackscrew tail. If that's the case, based on that corrosion in your photos, I'd bet big money that jackscrew and associated structures are junk.....

MTV

Thanks for all the info. Running away now.

Ya - I just found out it did sell.

That paint job doesn’t look great. I would suspect that there is a possibility that the paint stripper was not completely removed or neutralized. Also the stainless screws with no plastic washer are a no no. There is a lot of junk out there on the market. Sellers know it’s a hot market right now and those that know they have junk have been waiting for a market like this. Also keep in mind these A/C are 40-60 years old. Unless someone has been spending a lot of money and time to keep them up, the condition will reflect that age. As said above RUN

ington6 wrote:He said "thats just surface rust. A little sand paper and paint will fix that". He also told me there was no damage history but I found 2 accidents in the past, one of them nose gear collapse, when doing my paperwork search. He also told me the engine was overhauled in 2015 but after under contract told me 2004. So it is timed out. He has been reluctant to work on the price with me at all. Soo...... walk away?

RUN, don't amble or walk. Lotsa good planes out there.

185Midwest wrote:I think I'd walk away and not even inspect. Clearly this aircraft is grossly misrepresented at the outset. That appears to be more than just a bad prep job on the surface. I suspect there will be many more surprises should you choose to inspect and move forward.

Curious what the sellers' response to your question of "you said not corrosion" and point all of this out to them.

MW

I agree nothing would piss me off more than driving half way across the country to see that.