Flyin'Dutch',
Considering that EA said:
I have been toying with the idea of something cheapish .......for some cheap fun flying from farm strips / small airfields, day VFR stuff to take the Mrs away for weekends
then a Jabiru is a reasonable match for his requirements don't you think?
It's certainly true that he could buy various GA types for the same money, but from that point on every pound of his flying budget would buy rather less time in the air since a good proportion of it would have to be set aside for licensed engineers, star annuals and Gordon Brown's taxes on all the extra fuel required to go the same distance at not much greater speed.
I know you're just teasing, but I wonder how many 'propa aeroplane' owners have done as much decent touring as Julian has in his Jab in such a short time?
As to the toothbrush issue, not many machines of any class can fill all their seats and their tanks and still take luggage. Legally anyway. Even in a modern GA machine not unfamiliar to you I had to turn down a fourth passenger for my trip to Galway at the weekend, given that I needed full fuel and was operating out of a not-very-lengthy runway.
