Owner assisted annuals happen in our neck of the woods all the time in the mechanics hangar. I have spent well over 150 hours in there helping install ski kit, hydraulic pump for skis, fuel steps, grab handles, float kit, v-brace, vg’s, seat rails, the list goes on. $75 a day for the space and he keeps track of his time and bills me accordingly. I’m very grateful for this as I have learned much about my airplane.

Would I still buy a Cessna? Absolutely

I absolutely enjoy working on my bird, truly appreciate have an "accessible" adult to consult with and to keep me on track.

Let see, retirement plane on a limited budget, small experimental or lsa, with a fuel burn of six gal an hr. Budgeting is a tough call, what if your engine takes a crap ? I’ve repowered three over the years last was my 182 with exhaust, air box and goodies was a tad over 40k all said and done, buying a low time airplane in great shape still doesn’t guarantee it won’t happen to you.

As for aircraft type, looking at your numbers, you have a lot of choices if it’s just you, but add three more and you options diminish fast, I just ran the numbers you gave us on my 182, all said and done you will be able to carry 35 gal of fuel and no baggage to be legal, with you and say a 153 lb co pilot you can go with 70 gal fuel and 100lbs in baggage.

Now let’s talk backcountry, it depends on your definition, but anything off airport is probly out of the question at max gross, off airport and short field with a lot of fuel and weight is probly not going to work unless you step up to that C185, and as you know they aren’t cheap at all