Airplane Storage - Outside tiedown advice request

[hilltop170]

..............Is your hangar door hinged on top with a long piano hinge?

Gary
The top of my center door has horizontal tracks on the hangar and rollers on the top corners of the door that run in the tracks so when the door is opened, the bottom of the door swings out and the top rolls straight back 5-1/2’ toward the rear.

I have a video that shows the door action but I don’t know how to post a video on these forums.

[KFS1998]

Im a “Tamiami” guy. I’ve been here over 20 years.

I could not agree more. I keep looking to see if i can find something reasonable, occasionally thinking of buying land and building my own hangar. But at So.Flo prices, that will cost a lot of money. Im looking at options North of me, just to have a place for the old girl. The only set back is that the further from Miami, the longer it would take for me to get to to the airplane.

[cessna170bdriver]

When I bought my 170 in 1982 it had been stored outside in a grass tiediwn for over 20 years at a small airport east of Atlanta, Georgia, and the first few years I owned it I kept in in an open shade hangar. The paint was as chalky as a blackboard at the end of the school day, but the airplane was still structurally sound. When I had it rebuilt (2014-2017) the bare interior surfaces of the skins had only light surface corrosion, but nothing to cause any structural issues.

Regardless of where you store your airplane the best thing you can do is to fly it as often and as much as you can. My 170 is now in a heated hangar attached to my house, and I still feel guilty if I don’t fly it at least once a week.

[KFS1998]

Absolutely!

Hopefully a few years down the road i could have it sitting inside a hangar beside my house. I dream of that every day!

[daedaluscan]

There are so many advantages to a hangar over tying down outside. I think it has vastly improved my maintenance on the plane, just having everything to hand and working on a plane in the grass or on the ramp sucks. And I work much better with coffee available.

And where would I keep my boat and camper??

[cessna170bdriver]

There are so many advantages to a hangar over tying down outside. I think it has vastly improved my maintenance on the plane, just having everything to hand and working on a plane in the grass or on the ramp sucks. And I work much better with coffee available.

And where would I keep my boat and camper??

No doubt a hangar is the preferred storage, but at $950/month you could get the airplane repainted every year and have money left over, or just buy another one every 4-5 years...