Rob,

Ya might want to make sure you are not underinsured on the value of your airplane. Not many Maules these day’s that can be had for 120k.

Kurt

Flyhound wrote:I ....I don't know what your mission is, but the MX7 with the 180 Hp O360 has been ideal for me. I have 1,015 pounds of useful load, but I have to be careful with where that weight is placed. I can't put 2 adults in the back seat because of an aft CG problem. Losing the weight of 2 cylinders and some case metal off the front of the airplane will do that to you (the Maule was designed for a 6 cylinder engine). On the plus side, losing those 2 cylinders has reduced my fuel burn, made my maintenance costs a bit lower and still has provided an airplane that has taken me everywhere I want to go. ....

Useful load doesn't tell the whole story.
I dunno what the difference in empty weight is,
but I believe the gross weight for both the M7-180 & M7-235 is 2500#.
Loaded to that weight, what is going to perform better (aka be safer) coming out of a short, high, or hot strip--
a 180 horsepower airplane or a 235 horsepower airplane?

I don't think the real life difference in operating & maintenance costs are really gonna be all that different,
so given a choice I'd go with the higher horsepower model every time.

asa wrote:If the prices between an M7 and M5 are similar, definitely go M7. <...> M5 wingspan is 2ft shorter than M7, and a lot less flap both in span and in deployment angle.

I am surprised more hasn't been made of this.
Depending on your mission, they are quite different planes in a STOL context. The longer wings make a huge difference.

G44 wrote:Ya might want to make sure you are not underinsured on the value of your airplane. Not many Maules these day’s that can be had for 120k.

Ask me how I know.

G44 wrote:Rob,

Ya might want to make sure you are not underinsured on the value of your airplane. Not many Maules these day’s that can be had for 120k.

Kurt

Thanks Kurt, you're right. It is probably time to bump it up.

Cheers...Rob

I've said it before, one of the greatest things about a Maule is the factory support for upgrades!! Lots of upgrades are available and done with a factory letter or kit, so approval and paperwork is a snap! I currently take care of one that started life as an M5, got converted to an M6, and then got the long wings of an M7. Pretty sweet setup!!!
John

OregonMaule wrote:

G44 wrote:Rob,

Ya might want to make sure you are not underinsured on the value of your airplane. Not many Maules these day’s that can be had for 120k.

Kurt

Thanks Kurt, you're right. It is probably time to bump it up.

Cheers...Rob

This is one of the things that got me. Bought my M4-220 for 38k, insured it for 40 (I think it was $1350/yr with 300 hours, 280 tailwheel in 2016). Bent it a couple years later enough to total it, and there weren't any Maule's to be had for less than 58k at the time. So I bought mine back and have been rebuilding it with all the mods I would've wanted to do anyway since (atoning for my sins!). Not looking forward to what the new insurance rates will be, and wondering what hull value I should place on it.

1:1 Scale wrote:

OregonMaule wrote:

G44 wrote:Rob,

Ya might want to make sure you are not underinsured on the value of your airplane. Not many Maules these day’s that can be had for 120k.

Kurt

Thanks Kurt, you're right. It is probably time to bump it up.

Cheers...Rob

I did a Vref lookup on mine. $157000 I'm calling my insurance guy tomorrow.

Maules certainly don't float or glide but that universal wing sure tries.

Echo on insurance. I just bought my MX-7-180C about 4 months ago and with only 10 hours TW in kitfox, my insurance is at 10.5k a year. Talked to quite a few insurance folks and was told several times "It's a Maule thing". 100 hours in that plane and finishing my IFR he said it would likely drop to 6.5k and drop another 800 for every 100 hours flown roughly.

Also, make sure the pre-buy inspection is reputable and in-depth, not a check in the box. A few hundred or a thousand extra spent on a pre-buy could save you big time from getting into a bucket. Mine sat for 5 years in a hangar before I picked it up but at least I knew when I bought the plane that the cylinders ate themselves, but the rest of the engine was pristine and rust free. The wait on a set of O360 cylinders is about 11 months right now.

All negatives aside though, Maules are a ton of damn fun, and it's just money, right? Just a matter of finding the right one for what you want to use it for.

When I was shopping for a plane 3 years ago, with no tailwheel time, I was quoted $6k to insure a $90k Maule and $5k to insure a $180k 185. FWIW

I have experience buying and flying 3 individual Maules, 2 M7-235s (long wing) and 1 M5-210. My advice based on this limited experience would be to buy the best Maule you can regardless of model. If you are a recreational flyer I do not think the difference between models will be significant. Of course, everyone is different and you may find otherwise....

The long wing M7 definitely performs better than the M5. However, the difference is not a large as you would expect by looking at them. Despite the stubby little wings and the bumblebee look, the M5 is a surprisingly good performer. This may change on floats or wheel skis, but the plane's personality is based on HP, so I doubt it would be as much as you think. I found the M5-210 to be a surprisingly delightful plane to fly and the best balanced of the lot. Performance was great, even with a load. It may not keep up with a Supercub in a stol comp, or even beat a hotrod Skywagon off the ground, but in real world ops I found it to be a very useful blend of performance, speed, and load hauling capability.

The 235hp M7s are both very nose heavy and not nice to land when light. Their real forte is heavy, and gross weight is where they begin to shine. The real downside of a 3 blade in my mind would be the extra weight on the nose. One of my M7s has an MT and even that plane is nose heavy. If you fly around with 2 passengers in the front and not much gear you will find yourself loading as aft as possible and feeling like Popeye when landing. The heavy lead battery in the back is probably a good idea in this case. An engine failure on final could be REALLY ugly.

As far as gotchas in purchasing, I cannot think of any specific ones. The same normal stuff as buying any old rag and tube plane apply for sure. But I don't think there is much in the way of Maule specific gotchas. Original fabric has a bad rap. Most old ones have been recovered. If not that could be a problem. Poorly sealed door and rusty tubes are possible. But any decent AK mechanic should be able to look at a Maule and tell you everything you need to know. They are very honest and simple, nearly to a fault. I would not shy away from an M5-210 either. Those engines have a bad rap but I have had good experiences with that engine in several aircraft. All engines are expensive to OH nowadays - price a Lycoming OH!