Sun N Fun Report
Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:28 pm
Well, I am back from Sun N Fun after really giving the credit cards a workout! I met ALOT of RV guys while there. It seems that you can't throw a dead cat without hitting one lately!
I arrived on Monday with my buddy Kevin Johnson ( www.kevinsRV7.com ) who is also a -7 builder and immediately grabbed a cab to Tampa Harley Davidson where our trusty steeds laid in wait!
Having these bikes really made the trip fun! I think Sun N Fun is actually more fun than OSH. It is smaller, less commercial and truly a homebuilders paradise!
I immediately went to the 4 large hangars which served as the vendor pavilions. Here I found Desser tire and immediately placed an order for my tires and got an UNBEATABLE deal as well as an LED flashlight! Those guys are GREAT! Next to them was Barret Engines. I finally met Rhonda and she is a genuinely nice person! Monty answered some questions I had and I know that I am going to have a hard time deciding on an engine vendor because they are all so helpful!
Of course, I HAD to use the Aircraft Spruce coupon for $25 off and free shipping. I bought antennas there and a few other things. In the same hangar is Pacific Coast Avionics and I sprang for a whiskey compass and a few more incidentals.
All the vendors were very helpful. Mahlon was there and I chatted with Bruce Bohannon for a bit. He is like one of us! A real airplane nut! Rob Hickman spent a few minutes with me, but his AF3X00 products are so hot, he didn't have much time. That's cool, I understand. This panel with his stuff in it was from Accuracy Avionics:
Really nice panel!!!
Out on the ramp area there were many plane I had never seen before! Here is some "tail" art:
I knew my wife would just LOVE that one! <sarchasm> It did make the other planes happy, though!
There were LOTS of sweet tailwheel side by sides there. (Are there really ANY OTHER kind of RV's?)
Marc Ausman was there too. I think he must have flown the farthest. If not, he must have been on the short list.
He didn't tie his plane down and they were very angry with him, so I did it for him. After all, he has helped me out many times with all my 390 questions with his www.io-390.com website.
I also saw: Bret Smith, Mitch Garner, Keith Uhls, Dan Landry, Robert Brooks, Tom Clark and many others. Sorry if I forgot anyone.
Returning home via Tampa Airport in the aluminum saloon was fun. Especially for the folks at TSA! They had a great time attempting to discern what the assorted components were that I had picked up along the way! The clecoes had them going for a solid 5 minutes! When they saw the very intimidating 6" safety wire pliers, there was a problem! They were too large to allow on board. There was a communication problem, but it all got sorted out when the pliers could be shipped conveniently right there at the terminal. Someone is making money out of that deal! It cost me $12 to ship them home!
All in all, it was a GREAT TRIP and I can't wait until OSH! I suppose I best get baning some rivets now so I won't have to deal with TSA again!
See you in Wisconsin!
CJ
I arrived on Monday with my buddy Kevin Johnson ( www.kevinsRV7.com ) who is also a -7 builder and immediately grabbed a cab to Tampa Harley Davidson where our trusty steeds laid in wait!
Having these bikes really made the trip fun! I think Sun N Fun is actually more fun than OSH. It is smaller, less commercial and truly a homebuilders paradise!
I immediately went to the 4 large hangars which served as the vendor pavilions. Here I found Desser tire and immediately placed an order for my tires and got an UNBEATABLE deal as well as an LED flashlight! Those guys are GREAT! Next to them was Barret Engines. I finally met Rhonda and she is a genuinely nice person! Monty answered some questions I had and I know that I am going to have a hard time deciding on an engine vendor because they are all so helpful!
Of course, I HAD to use the Aircraft Spruce coupon for $25 off and free shipping. I bought antennas there and a few other things. In the same hangar is Pacific Coast Avionics and I sprang for a whiskey compass and a few more incidentals.
All the vendors were very helpful. Mahlon was there and I chatted with Bruce Bohannon for a bit. He is like one of us! A real airplane nut! Rob Hickman spent a few minutes with me, but his AF3X00 products are so hot, he didn't have much time. That's cool, I understand. This panel with his stuff in it was from Accuracy Avionics:
Really nice panel!!!
Out on the ramp area there were many plane I had never seen before! Here is some "tail" art:
I knew my wife would just LOVE that one! <sarchasm> It did make the other planes happy, though!
There were LOTS of sweet tailwheel side by sides there. (Are there really ANY OTHER kind of RV's?)
Marc Ausman was there too. I think he must have flown the farthest. If not, he must have been on the short list.
He didn't tie his plane down and they were very angry with him, so I did it for him. After all, he has helped me out many times with all my 390 questions with his www.io-390.com website.
I also saw: Bret Smith, Mitch Garner, Keith Uhls, Dan Landry, Robert Brooks, Tom Clark and many others. Sorry if I forgot anyone.
Returning home via Tampa Airport in the aluminum saloon was fun. Especially for the folks at TSA! They had a great time attempting to discern what the assorted components were that I had picked up along the way! The clecoes had them going for a solid 5 minutes! When they saw the very intimidating 6" safety wire pliers, there was a problem! They were too large to allow on board. There was a communication problem, but it all got sorted out when the pliers could be shipped conveniently right there at the terminal. Someone is making money out of that deal! It cost me $12 to ship them home!
All in all, it was a GREAT TRIP and I can't wait until OSH! I suppose I best get baning some rivets now so I won't have to deal with TSA again!
See you in Wisconsin!
CJ
CJ
CJ
