This may be one of those religious issues like high vs low wing. I doubt anyone
is going to be swayed one way or the other. But anyway...

Ben Jackson wrote:

In article 1104417758.851483@sj-nntpcache-3, Dave Butler wrote:
At my airport, at the end of 10 years I'd have spent an extra $27000, the
difference between hangaring and an outside tie-down. I think I could do a
pretty nice restoration (if it needed it, which it won't) for $27000.

In ten years the new paintjob you'll need will be half that. You'll

That would truly be a first-class paint job. If you're going to be spending that
kind of money on paint, no wonder you want to spend even more on hangars to
protect your investment. I'm not that much into paint.

manage to spend some of the rest on higher insurance premiums, new

my insurance premiums didn't change when I moved out of the hangar.

plexiglass from UV crazing,

that's what the cabin cover is for.

extra sets of tires,

I wear out my tires, they don't have time to deteriorate due to exposure.

maintenance or loss of value due to corrosion,

OK, I'll give you a small point on that one.

... Meanwhile you put up with the inconvenience
of operating from a tiedown,

Inconvenience? You taxi in, shutdown, and walk away. No tugs, no hangar doors.
Same thing when you depart. You start up and taxi out, no tugs, no hangar doors.

The fuel truck comes to the tiedown and fuels you before you get there or after
you're gone. At my airport, if you have a hangar, you have to pull the plane out
of the hangar to have it fueled. That means you have to personally be there and
wait for the fuel truck (yes, of course, there are other reasons for personally
supervising fueling).

like washing the plane more often,

Yeah, OK, but it's not that bad (for me). Depends on how fussy you are, I suppose.

messing with tiedowns,

What messing?

covers (oh, I hate covers),

I hate tugs and hangar doors.

ice and snow, mud, etc...

OK, I'll give you another point. Not too bad in my climate (NC), the biggest
problem is early morning departures in wintertime frost on the airframe. I don't
do very many of those, and when I need to, I can get an overnight hangar for
$15, or point it into the sun and wait an hour and it will melt on its own.


There's probably some small financial savings to be had at airports where
hangars are a lot more that tiedowns, but it's not nearly as much as the
straight difference in price.

Take out the "nearly" and I'll agree with you.

I think the main difference between the hangar zealots and the cheapouts is how
anal they are about having a showpiece vs. the people who just like to fly. The
hangar crowd are the same ones who drive Escalades and spend their weekends
washing and waxing them.

There, that ought to liven up the conversation... ;-)

Dave