The good news on the prop was that they could file out the damage, which would cost $1K ... but (and there's always a "but") he had noted some places on the prop where it had been sanded and field repairs made previously. Nothing that would make it unairworthy, but probably just representative of its time as a trainer. The prop had 1,200 hours since overhaul, same as the engine, though I'm not sure if that's time since overhaul, or time since new - I'll have to check the logs. He suggested that for $2K they could just do a complete overhaul.
Given the time on the prop and the chance to reset it to "0", the extra $1K seemed like a pretty good investment, so I authorized the overhaul. That includes a static balancing, and I'll likely do a dynamic one at some point once it's back on. There's a guy who keeps advertising them on the Carolina Aviators FB page, so I may reach out to him. Prop mechanic estimated a week to a week and a half to complete it, so I'm assuming two-weeks before it's on the plane and I can do a sign off flight. I texted my A&P to let him know.
With guidance on the prop, I went ahead and paid my $600 deposit to have the annual done in November. The annual isn't technically due until end of April, but I had previously discussed having the A&P spend four hour or so really looking at the airplane just to be sure the pre-buy hadn't missed anything major that would be a safety to flight hazard. I have zero confidence in the A&P that did the annual, 50% confidence in the one that did the pre-buy, and 100% confidence in my new A&P. At this stage in my life, I'm not interested in flying something myself that I'm not pretty confident in the safety of, and am not interested in flying others in it (including my kids) until I'm absolutely certain of its safety. Moving the annual up is going to hurt the wallet for sure, but it seems like the prudent choice. In the meantime, I'll fly the plane for a month or so by myself just to get acclimated to the right seat and start working on PPL & CPL maneuvers in preparation for the CFI.
I did pick up two pieces of equipment for the plane this week. I didn't like the idea of the flight controls being subject to the wind, and securing them with seatbelts isn't terribly easy in this plane, so I spent $100 on a control wheel lock from Royal Air Products. A seemingly dumb amount, but also the cheapest new control lock alternative out there. Fits like a glove.
New control wheel lock installed
I also happened to find a Bruce's Custom Cover on FB Marketplace being sold buy a guy about 40-minutes from me for $225. A new one is $470 before shipping, so that really was a great deal considering he only had it for a few months before selling the plane. He had it on a '64, but according to Bruce's site, the same model fits all non-straight tail 150s and 152s. I took it to the airport on a Sunday morning while my son was doing rowing nearby, and installed it, except for the clips. The previous owner had forgotten that those were still on the plane when he sold it to me, but he found a bag with some that he thought might work. I left them in the glovebox to have my A&P take a look when the prop is back.
Though the wrong color, the new, used cover fit great - needs snaps installed at the top, though
The guy who sold me the cover also had a case of oil and an extra filter, so I bought those off of him for $75 as well. After checking that the plane still had 5+ quarts in it, I stuck three of the new quarters in the back, along with the bag for the cover. I also had the FBO fill the tanks. Since I don't have a tow bar to drag it over to the self-serve, and I don't have a prop to taxi it over there, I just had them pump it. This was to keep them full so as to minimize the chance of water forming in the tanks. Had a great chat with the lineman kid who asked about the plane. He mentioned that my A&P Ryan was a tremendous mechanic, and would find anything and everything that anyone could with the plane. That was equal parts reassuring and concerning, since I know the first annual is probably going to hurt. Better than the alternative I suppose.
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