What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Expercraft site down?

Status
Not open for further replies.

airguy

Unrepentant fanboy
Sponsor
Builders log site problem?

Looks like Expercraft.Com has been "down for maintenance" for about a week now, that's where my log is. Anybody talked to them? Do we know if/when they are coming back online?
 
This is why I finally took about a week and created the "holy grail" massive printed project log just for cases like this..I hope they can get it worked out.
 
He folks,
I tried to log in to Expercraft last night to update my project and received a message saying it was undergoing maintenance. Just tried to log in again tonight and it is STILL undergoing maintenance. Anyone have any background info on when it might be back up?
Thanks!
 
If you look around in the command structure of expercraft you will find a command to print the site. Obviously will be a bazzillion pages that nobody wants to do. If you don't have a free "pdf printer" installed on your computer, google and get one such as PDF Creator. Chose to print expercraft and sent it to the PDF printer and you have a massive PDF file with all of it in date order.

Its a good backup and useful for presentation to FSDO or DAR.
 
If you look around in the command structure of expercraft you will find a command to print the site. Obviously will be a bazzillion pages that nobody wants to do. If you don't have a free "pdf printer" installed on your computer, google and get one such as PDF Creator. Chose to print expercraft and sent it to the PDF printer and you have a massive PDF file with all of it in date order.

Its a good backup and useful for presentation to FSDO or DAR.

Right, but I am not at a point where I need to have a PDF of the project. But I guess now I know I should be offloading my blog every so often in the case this happens.
What concerns me is how the entire site is offline and there is no additional info at all to paying customers. That's really lame.
 
Expercraft contact

Robert Riggen
CEO at Flying High Partners, l3c
Burlington, Vermont AreaPhilanthropy
Current
Flying High Partners, l3c, ExperCraft, LLC
Previous
Flying High Coffee, Inc, Riggen Enterprises, Inc, Kohort, Inc
Education
Champlain Colle
 
Info on the site said they'd be back up at the end of the day Oct 13 .... still down today (the 14th) ...
they must be having issues.
 
Main site appears to be back up, but some of the widgets and links are still wonky, doesn't look 100% yet.
 
I think you might want to be sure you can *download* your entire build log, so you have a local copy, before uploading more. Just in case. :)
 
Local copy

I think you might want to be sure you can *download* your entire build log, so you have a local copy, before uploading more. Just in case. :)

Not just one local copy. Backup the backup.

I don't recommend my process but it works for me and I can refer to it anytime from anywhere. Excel and Google Blogger. Multiple backups of everything including photos, files, receipts and the blog.
 
I was able to download mine this morning but I'm still not able to update it with fresh entries.
 
Still down ...

Well . . .
at least you can log in now and get to the home page...
and if you click on 'Print Log and then click 'Show Printable Log" you can see all your documentation is still there (Whew! )
But nothing else seems to work right now.

Must be be some extensive modifications going on :)
 
Well, today I'm able to create a new build entry, but it puked as soon as I tried to upload a photo to go with it.
 
Same here Greg. No photo uploads, so I'm just logging work done and will add pics later. Man this is frustrating :(
 
close but no cigar . . .

Get the following error message when I attempt to load pictures . . . . .

Upload error: The destination directory doesn't exist or is a regular file.
 
Spoke with Rob this morning, 10/21. He says the picture upload issue should be fixed within 24HR and new tabs to make the website more user friendly to follow within the next week!!
 
Sure would be nice if he could put a notice on the website with the latest info. Some of the broken links make no sense at all. For instance; I cannot get to my account page nor the contact page. But maybe the latter is intentional. :)

Sure hope he gets this worked out soon.
 
Expercraft not working

I still cant load photos... I guess i'm not clear as to whats really changed on the site ...other than its been down or operating at reduced capacity for over 3 weeks now.
It looks the same .. just doesnt work.
 
Blogger

I still cant load photos... I guess i'm not clear as to whats really changed on the site ...other than its been down or operating at reduced capacity for over 3 weeks now.
It looks the same .. just doesnt work.

Larry
If you're early in the build, consider setting up a Google Blogger account.
You can set it up with pages or go basic and just post pics and text.

YMMV
 
I have 140+ entries and almost 1000 hours of work documented here. I printed my log to a PDF but I really don't want to transfer all this data into a new format. But, at this point, I may start looking for alternatives.

If there are extenuating circumstances Rob is dealing with preventing him from getting this back up and running, I can be understanding of the protracted downtime. But not even a word to the customers is just inexcusable. It is not hard to add a message to the homepage or a url redirect to a click-thru landing page to explain the issue.

Meanwhile, I still got charged for the month. Seems his PayPal account is still working. :rolleyes:
 
I have 140+ entries and almost 1000 hours of work documented here. I printed my log to a PDF but I really don't want to transfer all this data into a new format. But, at this point, I may start looking for alternatives.

If there are extenuating circumstances Rob is dealing with preventing him from getting this back up and running, I can be understanding of the protracted downtime. But not even a word to the customers is just inexcusable. It is not hard to add a message to the homepage or a url redirect to a click-thru landing page to explain the issue.

Meanwhile, I still got charged for the month. Seems his PayPal account is still working. :rolleyes:

I called him yesterday and got his voicemail, left a message, never got a call back.

Not impressed... :(
 
Thank God I printed out photos before this happened. Maybe he has something going on in his personal life. Anyone with kitlog pro care to weigh in on their product. I would have to purchase a cheap laptop running Windows. Does it run on Windows 8 ? I believe that's the latest version. :confused:
 
I'm running KitLog Pro on Windows 8, and I've always had at least some problems. It's kind of a wonky program; not very intuitive; clumsy; the help function doesn't work with Windows 8; it keeps thinking I'm offline when I'm online; it keeps offering revisions at startup, but won't actually upload them. At first Matt Dralle was good about getting back to me with fix routines... but they didn't work completely... and recently I've had more problems and haven't gotten a response yet. I wish I could do a complete reinstall off of a CD-ROM... but that's not an option. I'm given the impression its somewhat of an orphan program nowadays. My latest problem is with deleted posts still appearing on my online feed, creating redundancy and inaccuracy. Kind of a drag... but I've never really gotten along with electrons very well... they're way too rogue for me. Enough to make me build with steam gauges... almost.
 
In the cloud...

I don't like seeing the words "program" or "download" for something like this. Expercraft has the right idea by hosting this service in the cloud, accessible from a web browser. It's just a shame there is no support and no communication at a time like this.

As others have recommended, I've started playing with Google Blogger and, aside from the fact you cannot auto calculate your build hours and expenses, it's a good platform. Very intuitive and visually pleasing, with excellent relational a keyword cataloging. It allows you to enter complex search criteria and get qualified returns for subsets of posts. Nice.

Now I just need to decide if I want to cut n paste 140+ Expercraft entries into Google Blogger. Ugh.
 
Web based build logs are a lot like nose rings and spiked hair...us old guys don't get it ;)

Why not make completion date notes in the margins of your Vans build manual, next to the operations performed? Regularly store some build photos on your hard drive. Burn a disk for your DAR when you get ready for inspection, assuming he/she actually wants pictures. Spend the new free time building the airplane.
 
Web based build logs are a lot like nose rings and spiked hair...us old guys don't get it ;)

Why not make completion date notes in the margins of your Vans build manual, next to the operations performed? Regularly store some build photos on your hard drive. Burn a disk for your DAR when you get ready for inspection, assuming he/she actually wants pictures. Spend the new free time building the airplane.

I do all that stuff - I spend my screw-off time at work daydreaming about the airplane and writing about it on the web! :D
 
I'm running KitLog Pro on Windows 8, and I've always had at least some problems. It's kind of a wonky program; not very intuitive; clumsy; the help function doesn't work with Windows 8; it keeps thinking I'm offline when I'm online; it keeps offering revisions at startup, but won't actually upload them. At first Matt Dralle was good about getting back to me with fix routines... but they didn't work completely... and recently I've had more problems and haven't gotten a response yet. I wish I could do a complete reinstall off of a CD-ROM... but that's not an option. I'm given the impression its somewhat of an orphan program nowadays. My latest problem is with deleted posts still appearing on my online feed, creating redundancy and inaccuracy. Kind of a drag... but I've never really gotten along with electrons very well... they're way too rogue for me. Enough to make me build with steam gauges... almost.

Just in the last couple of months I've started having similar issues with kitlog. KitLog tells me I'm not connected to the internet, when I know good and well I am. I also have some out of order posts, and some with pictures upside down, but without being able to upload a database, there's no way to correct it.

I've emailed Matt several times on the issue, and when I do get a response after two weeks or more, it's just a "it should work" response. I'm tied up with projects related to moving into a new-to-us house so I'm not currently working on the RV, but I'm still very disappointed in recent customer support from Matt.
 
I'm given the impression Matt has a lot of irons in the fire... hence my "orphan program" thoughts. I've got a LOT of backup... my blogspot blog; my handwritten notes; almost 500 photos and counting... so I suppose I can live with KitLog Pro problems. I just don't like having information on the net that isn't accurate. Oh well... (for now)
 
Just checked my email and got a reply from Matt... Looks like familiar instructions, and he said the delete function has been disabled from online posts for security reasons; I should have merely updated... but that didn't fix the out-of-order situation I was working on. I'll keep you posted as I re-apply his instructions... but I wanted to let you know I got a reply from him.
 
Web based build logs are a lot like nose rings and spiked hair...us old guys don't get it ;)

Why not make completion date notes in the margins of your Vans build manual, next to the operations performed? Regularly store some build photos on your hard drive. Burn a disk for your DAR when you get ready for inspection, assuming he/she actually wants pictures. Spend the new free time building the airplane.

All good points for the primary record keeping. But I also use the blog to give friends and family a view into my progress. My fellow Glastar builders also appreciate having a place to look at my work as they approach those same chapters. The assembly manual milestone check marks and some organized photos are all I'll really NEED to show the DAR. But I like having something visual that's more portable. The web build log does that.
Or at least did until it went belly up. :(
 
22 days and counting....

...and Expercraft is still not working properly. I've left 3 VMs and sent 4 emails to Rob. ZERO response. Should we all just give up or is there a chance he'll get this back up and running?? Anyone have any communication with him recently?
 
...and Expercraft is still not working properly. I've left 3 VMs and sent 4 emails to Rob. ZERO response. Should we all just give up or is there a chance he'll get this back up and running?? Anyone have any communication with him recently?

Just the same as yours - emails and voicemails go unanswered.

Stopping the monthly payments for the website might get his attention, but only if everyone did it.
 
Just the same as yours - emails and voicemails go unanswered.

Stopping the monthly payments for the website might get his attention, but only if everyone did it.

I just got a PayPal email notification for my November payment. They have a dispute center. Ill be trying that next. Probably include October as well. It's only $10 bucks over the 2 months but it's sort of the principle of the whole thing. Not to mention what it's going to take to port it all over to a functioning alternative.
 
Last edited:
Regarding my Kitlog Pro experience, I haven't tried all the corrections he suggested yet, but I ended up exchanging several emails with Matt. I needed some online posts deleted, and he was having trouble deleting one of them... it took a few days, but he hung in there and got the job done. So no complaints here about him responding. He has, and he does.
 
Last edited:
Maybe I am too naive...

At nearly 50 years old, maybe I am still naïve or have just maintained my faith in humanity far too long, but the fact that Rob Riggen has made ZERO attempt to reach out to his Expercraft subscribers or posted ANY information about the failed performance of the website (the website for which "Users" are STILL paying a monthly fee) is beyond astonishing to me.

I have now officially left over 2 dozen emails or voice mails for this guy with no response whatsoever. Does anyone have any insight into what is going on with him? I sincerely hope nothing terrible has happened to him. But at least that would explain the otherwise complete lack of consideration for paying customers.
 
Same here. The only progress I've seen is that the error message I get from the website now points to "Line 551" whereas last week it was "Line 647".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top