I installed the right step today and must admit I wasn’t looking forward to it. My issue is using violence on my beautiful fuselage, hacking 1 ½” holes though the fuselage side and floor ribs and doing it in exactly the right place. Vans puts a pilot hole in the fuselage as a starting point and then by using a 12” drill bit you can get the right line going into the next rib. I used a 1 ½ “diameter hole saw which worked out fine with some Boelube. The installation drawings provided with the step are some what misleading because they say to locate the step on the web of the floor rib, but in reality the other end that fits in the Delrin block is a ½” of the bottom of the fuselage. The net is, this sets ups an angle and we all know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, making it impossible to lay on the web except at the point it goes through the fuselage. I also deviated from the plans going through the second floor rib instead of cutting off the tube at the rib. I added a .040 doubler, which is probably not necessary, but it makes me feel better, add virtually no weight and just feels stronger.
Rafael was in the hanger and took a picture with me in it
