uAvionix tailBeacon It Is (for now)

 According to my spreadsheets, I had spent about $9.3K on 4TV since purchase.  $4.8K of that was the initial maintenance after pre-buy that I had $3K knocked off the price for.  $434 was prop removal and cleaning the axles on the mains.  About $2.6K was for the prop overhaul, and $600 was the deposit for the annual.  So in total, about $8,400 on maintenance items specifically.  It's a lot - not a surprising amount, just more than I had expected to pay this early on - with only 8 hours actually logged flying the airplane.

So when it comes to upgrades, I'm trying to be smart about those costs and do things incrimentally when possible.  For all of the ADS-B options I had detailed, the taiBeacon ADS-B Out is the best option right now.  Although I've seen them for around $1.5K-$1.7K lately from private sellers, Gulf Coast Avionics is actually running a sale on their uAvionix gear.  That meant that the Tailbeacon could be purchased for $1,985 with free shipping.  Given that I'm still paying down these unintended expenses, plus I'm anticipating upwards of $5K for the first annual, it would otherwise not be wise of me to put another $2K on my credit card for ADS-B when I don't absolutely need it.  Fortunately, Gulf Coast has a financing arrangement, and I took out the 12-month loan on it since it has no early payment penalty.  If the annual goes badly, I at least have 12-months to pay it off.  If it goes REALLY badly, I can sell the tailBeacon for 75% of what I bought it for to recoup some of that loss.

Will have the uAvionix tailBeacon installed next week

The tailBeacon arrives on Friday, and my A&P is going to have the plane in the shop sometime next week to look at my nose gear, so I asked if he could just install it then, and he agreed.  

While I wasn't too worried about flying without ADSB-Out since I had IN, the sale, combined with the opportunity to finance it, shifted my perspective.  With so many students out there relying on the fishfinder to look for traffic, it does provide great piece of mind - and will allow me to drop into the Class C airports near me.

Of course I can't go onto the uAvionix site without daydreaming about potential panel set ups.  Consistent with my intermittent upgrade strategy, I do like the idea of installing an AV-30 for the AI and an AV-20 at some point in the near future when finances allow it.  Having the AV-30 in place will help if my transponder poops the bed at some point, as I can then upgrade to the tailBeacon X and use the AV-30 to operate the internal stransponder.  As I mentioned before, I don't love the AV-30s transponder control interface, but my real priority here needs to be shedding weight since my 13-year old son is only going to be adding weight in the coming years.

So my hypothetical avionics plan right this moment, before something major screws it up, is:

1. Add tailBeacon ADS-B Out
2. Add AV-30 AI
3. Add AV-20
4. Upgrade to tailBeaconX
5. Add AV-30 DG & remove vacuum system
6. GPS?

Which got me thinking ... the AV-30 benefits from a magnetometer installed in the wing, and the AV-20 benefits from a temp probe.  So what if I just bought those accessories and had my A&P install them when the plane is torn apart for annual, eveven if the associated instrument insn't onboard?  One trusted source on the forums seems to think that's a good idea so far, but need to talk to my mechanic.

Also, I spent $42 from Aircraft Spruce to buy the cowl screw kit for the 150.  My screws were disappearing, and it was clear the previous owner used random ass screws of varying lengths.  In an effort to avoid my cowl flying off and damaging the airplane (or the new prop!) I'm going to try to install those next time I'm out.

Cowling screws from Aircraft Spruce