Scott wrote: > First, would you advise buying the kit and > starting from scratch or buying a KR in the boat state? Second, which > of the engine options is the most reliable? Which provides the best > bang for the buck? Approximately how many hours, on average, will each > of the engines last?
Buying a boat stage KR is a huge head start. Unfortunately, few of them are the S, which is what you'd want to start with. They do come up for sale, maybe one every year or two, but by then you could have built one just like you want it. I like the Corvair. See http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford/corvair/ for more info, but the VW and O-200 are fine too. The Jabiru is light, but very expensive by comparison. The Corvair provides the best bang for the buck, hands down in my opinion, especially if you want a lot of bang. As to which one lasts longer, probably the 0-200, unless we have the Corvair crank thing figured out. There are two KRs in Pine Bluff. Tommy Waymack will probably contact you. If not, I'm 2 hours away, and always looking for an excuse to fly somewhere. If you build the tri-gear version, it'll be almost as easy to fly as a C-150, in my humble opinion, which is coming from a guy who's never flown one yet, but I do believe the KR taildragger is pretty easy, personally. The fun to price ratio is very hard to beat, but it is time consuming to build a KR, unless you buy a boat that's already built and really hit it hard like Bill Clapp did... For more info, see http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford/ , starting with "Opinions, recommendations, and other biased information ". Mark Langford, Harvest, AL see homebuilt airplane at http://www.N56ML.com email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net
