Building an RV - Meet Eric Marsh

In the heart of the English countryside, a large, stately stone building looks over the Chatsworth Estate. It has been there, usually serving as an inn, for so long that it is uncertain when it was actually built. Acquired recently (1830 is recent by English standards) by the Duke of Devonshire, it is now known as the Cavendish Hotel. It is managed by the suave and gracious Eric Marsh, and in between the sophisticated wine cellars and luxurious rooms, it contains a little secret...that lovely greensward out front isn’t there for the deer, buddy...that’s the strip where Eric’s going to fly the RV-4 he’s building out back. Someday. Eric tells how an English Hotelier succumbed to the same disease as the rest of us:

Looking out the window one day, I suddenly found that I was 45 and had spent many years building my hotel business. Even though I had indulged myself with flying, principally aerobatics, for several years, innkeeping had taken most of my time. I had earned a vacation.

So, in August, 1988, having left my native environs in Devonshire, England, I was mingling with the faithful at aviation Mecca, Oshkosh. I had never, ever, seen or even conceived of seeing so many suppliers, so many Total Aviation People, so many aeroplanes. Aeroplanes like the stunning little two place tandem that I couldn’t take my eyes off.

Intrigued, I essayed an attempt at communication with one of the locals standing nearby, in colorful native dress.

"I say, my good man, where can one acquire one of these delightful aeroplanes?"

Eyes swiveled sideways under a ten-gallon hat.

"Thet’s an Aarvee Foah. Y’all cain’t buy ‘em, yew gotta bild ‘em," I was informed.

It took a moment to decipher both the diction and the concept. Build an aeroplane! Well, maybe when I retired in fifteen years or so. Five years later, the picture of the RV-4 still in my mind, I could stand it no longer. I sold my beloved Skybolt, bought at Oshkosh '89, and started researching Recreational Vehicles.

I visited nearby RV builders George and Nigel Reddish and came away encouraged. They were building their first RV-6 in what must have been the world’s tiniest aircraft workshop. I immediately came home, established the world’s second smallest in a commandeered storeroom, and ordered a kit from the US. Funding was not a problem; the dollar was at an all time low, so I bought the entire kit, including and engine and prop, and tools from ATS (the last was a big mistake, but I didn’t know about Bob Avery at the time, and Cleaveland wasn’t in business yet).

Innkeepers are not engineers -- the most complex machinery we handle is a corkscrew! My father was an engineer, but he had died in the ‘60s. I had a pedal bike as a kid, but otherwise my mechanical knowledge was, truly, zilch. The kit arrived and inventory took a week. An hour into my first component, I panicked and started composing an ad: "abandoned RV project ...." In the end, a couple of friends came to the rescue. Their advice, frequently recalled, was to take it one step at a time. Although the learning curve has been steep, I now tell visitors who mistakenly regard me as clever because I am building an aeroplane that anyone who can read instructions and will follow plans can do it.

Even so, my complete lack of mechanical background has been frustrating at times. It took me a long time to realize that a 10-32 screw was a #10 diameter with 32 threads per inch; or that a rivet gun could be run at less than "full on". I have muddled through, taking far more time than Van calls "average". It has been my good fortune to live in the Age of Fax. Frequently my lack of knowledge causes me to summon American aid. Van’s help desk is wonderful. Tom Green has provided me with so much assistance that I have agreed to put his name on the "built by" placard!

After two and half years of building, the wings and fuselage were complete and I had outgrown my 8’x20’ storeroom/workshop. I therefore had an RV sized "garden shed" constructed on the hotel grounds. This certainly gave me more space, but it has taken me a long time to get used to the longer distances one must walk in a full sized shop. It was originally suggested that I could assemble the major components in the hotel’s restaurant, but it was decided, that, although guests might not object to "just holding something for a minute", they certainly wouldn’t appreciate my frustrated cursing when a hole was drilled wrong, or (as happened) the $500 canopy cracked. The shriek that occurred on that unhappy day was heard three miles away, and the deer didn’t reappear for weeks.

Acquiring another hotel has recently slowed the project, but I still anticipate completion later this year. I find I enjoy the building process almost as much as the flying. Living and working in the same location has been a great advantage. At quiet times (or even busy times--especially busy times, according to my wife, Liz) I can creep away and potter about. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I find myself thinking about the upcoming RV-8 QuickBuild kit. I could squeeze that in between aerobatic test flights of "Harvey!"