What is a well Worn 7eca Worth

B

Black Cloud

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We have a 76 7ECA with about 4000.0
hours . 200.0 Hours on engine overhaul . Needs a total recover . Partner wants out , doesn't want to recover . Wanting to buy him out . just wanting to know what its worth to buy partner out . Any ideas ? Airplane I paid for just needs some attention .
 
It's hard to say. A shop will charge $30,000 or more (a friend is having his done now for $27,000) to do paint and fabric. with a low time engine but high total time, the plane would probably be worth high thirties to low forties in a normal economy. in today's environment, who knows?

the more work you have done in addition to fabric, the more expensive the final bill would be and the less likely you would be to recoup your investment.

how bad is the fabric/paint? would it pass an annual inspection as is?
 
A 7ECA with good low time Lycoming and horrible fabric sells between $19 and $25K. A really good one is $35K. Smart move is to sell the beater and buy a better one.
 
I'd work it backwards if the fabric isn't airworthy, a lower end fabric job with little to no additional work might be $25000 if you can find someone to do it at that price. Estimate the plane with that engine and new fabric (basic paint job) to be about $35000. Tell him you'll give him $5000 and that as the pandemic wears on the offer is going to go down.

Then sell it, or if you really love it, start working on finding a shop that you can trust to do a good, tight, safe fabric job at a reasonable cost.

In my humble opinion of course.
 
How handy are you? If you do the labor and have an IA sign off you should get away around $10k in materials but it will take longer than you think to do. The Stewart’s system is pretty easy to learn depending on where you are based one of us might be willing to help someone with an A&P might be interested in providing labor for flight time or part ownership. Just some ways to defer cost. Good luck with what you chose to do.
 
Bartman said:
I'd work it backwards if the fabric isn't airworthy, a lower end fabric job with little to no additional work might be $25000 if you can find someone to do it at that price. Estimate the plane with that engine and new fabric (basic paint job) to be about $35000. Tell him you'll give him $5000 and that as the pandemic wears on the offer is going to go down.

Then sell it, or if you really love it, start working on finding a shop that you can trust to do a good, tight, safe fabric job at a reasonable cost.

In my humble opinion of course.
Click to expand...
I happen to agree with Bartman. I thought my plane needed fabric when I bought it, and the price allowed for that. Then two IAs looked at it and said "who told you it needed fabric?". Been flying it ever since, including 2.5 today.

The paint is faded. It's a 25 footer if you left your glasses home. It's no worse than any M-R model C172 harnessed up at the local rent-a-dent.

If YOU don't hate looking at this plane then use the current market to buy him out.

Then do as Bruce suggests and start looking at fabric opportunities.

I know two IAs who's backlog calendar just vaporized. I'm sure fabric guys are in the same spot.
 
I guess the point was similar to what Bob said, if you want to keep the plane don't spend more than it'll be worth after the work is done. If you want to have a Citabria when the smoke clears, sell that one and split the proceeds with your partner, then go buy another that doesn't need the work done. I paid $28,500 3 yrs ago for a '68 7ECA with about 2300 total time, 750 on the engine, wood spars, and good fabric with basic paint.
 
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