I’ve been debating a Bearhawk build for several years... it always comes down to time. I don’t want to get into something I won’t finish.

Situation:
31yrs old
Wife, 2 kids under 3
Currently own a Maule
Get to fly about 2-3 times a month
Time is limited to keep wife happy
Move every 2-3yrs with work

I like the BH because it’s fairly fast/modern but performs like a Cub and has the 33’ wing. I could theoretically buy a Cub but then I’d have to rebuild my hangar (when we move back to Houston ((hopefully!)) because I’m an idiot and built it 36x36 trying to save some money).

But, building is a huge time commitment albeit a lot of it in the garage at home. I could buy a J3 or something in the meantime but then that slows work on the BH. My logic says DON’T DO IT but the little guy on my shoulder says do it now and when you finish it maybe kids will be ready to tag along.

Any personal experiences?

ah to build or not to build... the age old question...

If I were in your shoes, i would not build yet. My current life situation is similar to yours. While I do not have a wife or kids, I also tend to move every 3 or so years for work, also get in the air in my plane, and struggle to make all people happy at the same time. I am holding onto my Bearhawk plans at the moment as well and waiting for the day where I can dive in head first.

There are a few considerations to make, such as:

-Quick build or scratch build? (or combo of the two)
-level of complexity? (normal aircraft engine, basic instruments, or auto conversion glass panel etc)
-Overall mission? Does the Bearhawk fill a mission gap that the maule is currently not performing?

Pros to start now:
-Building can be fun!
-Youre not getting any younger

Cons:
-If you think moving a house every 3 years sucks, try moving an entire shop and airplane parts on top of that
-If you only have time to fly 2-3 times a month, I would assume you wouldnt have much more time to build, so your project will take multiple years (10 years isnt uncommon for bearhawk builds) In the meantime, the maule will probably not see much flight time
-Cost (i probably dont even need to say this one )

If it were me, I would wait until you had a long term plan to stay put in one house and build in a shop at your house. The project will progress much faster if you can get 15 minutes done a night instead of long days away from home, and the wife will be much happier having you around. And if you do choose to build, im looking forward to the build thread you will hopefully be posting here to update us all

Just my $.02... good luck with the decision!

I wouldn’t do it in that situation. Nor do I think I’d do it again in mine. My kids were 3 and younger when I started and now they are 4 years older and missed out on a lot of flying. Both used to love airplanes and now they are kinda meh about them. Hopefully that changes. My 3rd kids just turned three and has never been flying, that’s pitiful. My oldest probly had 100hrs in the right seat by the time she was 3.

If I could do it over I would have waited till they were older to build or kept a airplane to fly with them and planned to take 10 years to build a Bearhawk.

My man, you have the best M4 in the world. Go enjoy it! You know what my setup looks like, and I can’t even find the time to put the 182’s interior back in place.

As a twice-failed builder, I’ll pose a couple of questions. Just things to think about, not necessarily to answer here:

What are you doing now that you’ll give up in order to build an airplane? Be specific and count the number of hours involved.

Do you build stuff in the garage? If you aren’t a builder of furniture or restorer of cars right now, there’s nothing about an airplane that’ll suddenly make you handy.

Serious question to ask yourself. What will a Bearhawk do better than the Maule you already have and fly? Is that gain worth the money and time time time?

There is no way I would build, you are blessed with a family and very fortunate to be able to have the time and resources to own and fly a Maule, don't push your luck. I think taking on a project like this will add stress to everyones life in your family. Wait until the kids are older and you move less.

I don't mean to be harsh but that is reality as I see it.


Kurt

I'm restoring a 170 right now which is almost as involved as building a new plane. In fact, I think building a new plane might take less time as you don't have to take everything apart, clean it, make new parts or spend countless hours trying to get certain bits approved.

I've been going at it for nearly three years and have 2,200 hours logged of honest work time.
When it's done, Im getting my A&P with the time logged so my wife thinks of it as if I went back to college with a full course load while working full time like she did a few years back. IE we're not doing anything else in life until this is finished.

What I've learned is that skipping a week or two of working on the project can set you back a month or better.
Trying to pick it up only on the weekends means spending half the weekend getting your head back into it. Double the hours you expect.
Thinking about anything else during the week is next to impossible.

If you spend 2 hours EVERY night and 10 hours EVERY weekend, thats about 1,000 hours a year but who can maintain that kind of pace for three or four years?

IMO there are Builders and there are Flyers and when flyers build, they end up regretting the time lost that they could have been flying.
Builders build a lot more than airplanes and enjoy the act of building something and it's a bonus to fly it when they are done before finding something else to build.

So if you're not already building other stuff and going nuts when you don't have a project in the garage, I would say fly the Maule.
If you really want a Bearhawk because the Maule isn't working for your mission, I'd try to find a project 90% finished - You'll still two years getting that last 10% done tho.

Thanks for the replies.

As far as building goes, I’ve built about anything you can build besides an airplane. From a mission standpoint, I don’t see the wife and kids getting in the airplane unfortunately, otherwise I’d buy an M7. I like the BH Patrol because it’s Cub-like but would fit in my hangar.

Jared is right though, my Maule is nice. I just need to get over the fact that it’s not a Cub and quit trying to fly it like one!

I need to find a Patrol that’s done to buy. I’ve only seen 2 for sale in the last 4 or 5 years.

Don't build unless you want to build. If the goal is to get a cub like airplane, then go buy a cub like airplane.

The bearhawk kit isn't like other kits were you have documentation and assembly instructions. It's more or less just buying the pile of prefabbed parts you would have made if you scratch built, then you get to figure out how to do everything else, which takes a LOT of time.

Also, those piles of prefabbed parts don't have some of the features you might want, like seaplane doors, or skylight, or bushwheels. So you end up modifying the prefabbed part.

Everybody on this site that's building a bearhawk whether kit or scratch building, has ended up doing extensive modifications. It doesn't make sense to build if you aren't getting what you want.

Besides, have you flown a patrol or 4 place bearhawk?

I wouldn't put them in the same category as a cub. They are a different airplane. The cub is much slower in both cruise and landing.

If it's just you and only a few times a month, only flying local, I'd either keep the maule or buy a cub.

I forgot to address the wingspan issue with your hangar.

You can either be forever relegated to short wing stuff (which is not going to ever be a cub, or even a cessna for that matter) or you sell it and build a new one.

Personally, I'd fix the hangar, 36x36 is WAY too small.

TxAgfisher wrote:

Jared is right though, my Maule is nice. I just need to get over the fact that it’s not a Cub and quit trying to fly it like one!

Are you flying with PA18's that are going places you don't feel comfortable? There is no doubt a good PA18 performs well, but your M4 should be able to go almost everywhere a PA18 can, especially when light. I'm not sure how your M4 is set up, but the extended gear and the longest prop you can run along with bushwheels should make it keep up with all but the best flown PA18's.

My kids are now 8 and 11, and It sill is not the right time for me to build, although I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel! It's amazing how fast they grow up and life start to switch gears. My experience has been that when aviation becomes a stress in your marriage and family, it really takes the fun out of flying/building/being an airport bum, etc.

Building is fun. But you will never finish with your current constraints.

My project is at a virtual standstill...only baby steps being made. I bought a flying airplane to have fun in, which takes the pressure off and allows me to not rush and do nice work. I have extensively modded the "quickbuild" fuselage, to the point that a complete re-coating will be necessary.

You have a couple different decisions going on. For 2-place tandem aircraft to complement the Maule, I think there are better choices. For me, the Bearhawk is the Maule mission: 4-place, 260+ hp, family-hauling-to-the-backcountry machine.

You could build a pretty nice custom experimental Cub with the massive aftermarket, but in my situation at least, family and young children are mutually exclusive with fast progress.

akschu wrote:I forgot to address the wingspan issue with your hangar.

You can either be forever relegated to short wing stuff (which is not going to ever be a cub, or even a cessna for that matter) or you sell it and build a new one.

Personally, I'd fix the hangar, 36x36 is WAY too small.

Can’t sell it, it’s on land that we’ve owned for decades. I could expand it, but that would be a lot of work. I built the hangar with my own two hands.

akschu wrote:Besides, have you flown a patrol or 4 place bearhawk?

I wouldn't put them in the same category as a cub. They are a different airplane. The cub is much slower in both cruise and landing.

Yes, I’ve flown the Patrol and have many friends with Cubs. The Patrol will land as slow as a Cub IMO but it’s faster.

TxAgfisher wrote:Time is limited to keep wife happy

Pretty much answered your own question. Keep the Maule.

Don't start yet, unless you want a hassle.

Building would be great fun, especially taking it slowly like you describe. It'll be a 10 year project with that much free time though, and boxing up and moving a half-finished kit every few years would be a real kill joy.

If you just want to fly, then stick with the Maule. Building in a rush is not fun, once you reach the halfway point it becomes a grind.

A long wing M6-235 is almost competitive with a Bearhawk, lesser models or short wings models are not at all.

Kept light, a Bearhawk will easily go anywhere you can take a Cub loaded with 2 people.

Battson wrote:Kept light, a Bearhawk will easily go anywhere you can take a Cub loaded with 2 people.

TxAgfisher wrote:Yes, I’ve flown the Patrol and have many friends with Cubs. The Patrol will land as slow as a Cub IMO but it’s faster.

I guess it depends on the cub.... and I suppose the bearhawk.

If you are comparing a stock engine heavy cub against a very light patrol with 180hp, then sure, but most of the cubs around here are pretty stinking light, and have 180HP, and they work very well.

akschu wrote:

Battson wrote:Kept light, a Bearhawk will easily go anywhere you can take a Cub loaded with 2 people.

TxAgfisher wrote:Yes, I’ve flown the Patrol and have many friends with Cubs. The Patrol will land as slow as a Cub IMO but it’s faster.

I guess it depends on the cub.... and I suppose the bearhawk.

If you are comparing a stock engine heavy cub against a very light patrol with 180hp, then sure, but most of the cubs around here are pretty stinking light, and have 180HP, and they work very well.

Bearhawk 4 place vs. 150hp or 180hp Cub, two up with 50% fuel. Been there, done that a few times. See my avatar (white Cub is the 180). Each time proved they are very comparable in practical terms. I'm sure an expert pilot will change the equation, in either direction. Patrol would be the same.
Our experience is, it depends on the pilot a lot more than the plane.

I am building a cedar canoe right now, which, while not at airplane scale, still requires a few hundred hours of time.

It has convinced me that I can likely sustain a long term project that I enjoy. I view it as practice for building an airplane someday.

I am going to build some day because I like building things, but realistically it is going to wait until I can retire or the kids are out of the house. If you like building things then do it, but why not wait until you have more time? If you are after capability I’m not convinced building is cheaper, but totally get the want to build simply because we like to build things.