I have been considering going to an ELSA and have been doing a lot of research into what was available. I zeroed in on the Zenith 750 and after seeing one in Sebring FL and talking to the reps, I’m 95% sure the Zenith is the one for me. I had the garage rebuilt, after the tornado, large enough, 25 x 32, to build the major components and I can assemble the plane in the hangar I lease at the airport. So, here is what I’m thinking. I’ll go to Mexico MO and attend their “rudder build class” this summer and then have the plane kit delivered late fall or early winter after I finish the inside of the new garage (it will be insulated and have heat and cooling). Since I’ve recently overhauled the engine in Silverlining (it has 1990 TT) I plan on using that engine and any other items needed and then parting out the rest of the airframe (also with 1990 TT). When I get to that part of assembly I’ll fly Silverlining to NC where my son will handle parting her out. We will bring the engine and other pieces parts back to MS for the final assembly. The 750 airframe and finishing kit cost about 20K. An O200 engine mount and cowling is 1.5K. A ground adjustable Sennsenich prop is about 3K. Avionics will be minimal so I’m guestimating 5K (I will use my existing transponder and altitude encoder, EI engine analyzer, etc). Since I’ll be daylight VFR, I hope to keep it as light as possible and keep the cost down with a total target of $35K not including engine cost. I should be able to re-coup some of the cost by selling whatever we can from Silverlining. I’m still number crunching but this looks like a viable option to keep flying for years to come.
