SonexBuilders.net

Hello to all. For those of you that used Con-Way to ship your kit, did it arrive in good order? I finally ordered a Sonex kit along with an AeroVee engine and am concerned about potential shipping damage, especially if the crate is loaded/unloaded several times as it crosses the country to our home in British Columbia. Looking forward to my sixth homebuilt, still lots to learn.

Gunther

Gunther,
My kit came via Con-Way, and probably only on two trucks. It was good.

Mine arrived in perfect condition. I was very impressed with the packing job. Everything is secured to a single 4x10ft pallet (plus a couple tubes for the longer stuff),, and when it arrives the plastic is cut away, and the boxes are hand offloaded from the pallet. Inside the boxes, everything is well protected with a lot of packing material, the way the boxes are packed is really smart. I wouldn'tbe overly concerned, just be sure to give things a good once over before you sign the Conway delivery slip.

Just remember, don't discard the wooden pallet! There are lots of flat parts and skins secured within the layers of wood.

My sub kits arrived via Conway. Two of the shipments showed minor damage to a corner of the pallet. Nothing inside was damaged, a testimony to how well they pack this stuff.

My advice is to look everything over immediately when they arrive, photograph any damage (we photographed the whole arrival and unloading as part of the build process) and follow up immediately.

Personally, we found the drivers to be very helpful and interested in the kit. Last week when the final sub kits arrived, we showed the driver the completed fuselage, teal feathers, and wings. He was amazed Conway had delivered it all.

Blue skies


Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517
Chicagoland
Tails and Wings complete - finishing fuselage.
N1517S reserved

Here's a link to my blog with pictures of the delivery of my kit last November. Should give you an idea of what to expect.

http://www.rynoth.com/wordpress/waiex/2 ... /delivery/

Agree on Conway's customer service, the driver happily helped me unload everything into my garage. Note, you don't need/want a lift-gate truck for the delivery. It all comes off by hand, although pallet is quite heavy, gravity is on your side to get it off the truck.

Took delivery of ONEX kit at local Conway terminal late last summer. No pallet damage whatsoever. Used a borrowed trailer and they loaded with a fork lift. I was concerned about lack of tongue weight as first loaded and lift driver happily unloaded and turn pallet around putting more weight on the tongue. I took delivery at terminal so I could to offload at my pace. Be certain packing list is included so you can do the inventory as you unpack parts. Pallet parts seemed to be grouped on packing list sheets in the same way they are packed in the pallet. My packing list was lost somewhere from the shipment, factory later provided and I wound up doing an inventory after all parts were unpacked. A lot of extra work.

I also echo people's comments that Conway, while being perhaps a little more expensive, is normally a cut above the rest and do a great job. They just delivered my new wing skins and I had no damage as well as a helpful driver who was happy to help me unload the shipment. They do a great job but always make sure you're checking for damage regardless of who you end up using.

You guys experience make my Conway driver look like a bum. He stood their up in his trailer and asked me who was helping me unload? I had already called a neighbor (thankfully) as the Conway driver didn't lift a finger off his trailer to help. He did unsnap the palette and boxes and slide them to the end of his trailer for me to unload though!

I didn't have any damaged though.

When I recd my kit in April 2008, Mark at Sonex said it was the worst mangled kit he'd ever seen. One 2x4 ripped off bottom of pallet. Never did find it. Footprints on the top load boxes where they were crushed after being walked on. Cowl damaged due to corner of box being scraped off. Pre assembled spar box had a hole punched in one end from a forklift. Went right between the spars! Got a new cowl and some bar stock out of it. In reality, didn't need the new pieces, sine the cowl damage was cut off during fitment.

Mine was delivered by Conway and everything was fine. it was packed very well from Sonex. Another
builder helped me with moving the stuff via my trailer over to the airport. The Conway driver helped us get it
unloaded from his truck. No issues at all.

RT