Jon was dying to get back to work on the plane after my two weeks in Canada, so we dove right in today. There was quite a bit of work finishing the removable baggage decking, and making a fitted piece to close off the very back to prevent things from rolling into the aft section and being lost forever (and interfering with flight controls!). We also took our time cutting out the utility holes on the top of the turtle deck for wiring and hose routing up to the engine, the cuts turned out nice.
I considered the heater some more, and have decided that the heater will go up front. The natural flow is from front to back and the added ballast up front won't hurt.
We spent the rest of the day mating and riveting the turtle deck to the hull. It turned out nice, but there were a few places where the top coat had some voids at the edges where the paint cracked off. I'm going to take some extra time soon to clean and prime all those spots - it'll be time for a hull paint job soon.
I'm also going to put some trim over the seam, so you won't be able to see it anyway.
Factory tour on Wednesday - I'll post a few key pics when I get back.
Ohhh - and yesterday I flew my Solo "short" cross country to Graham - It was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed it very much. The Cessna likes altitude and it makes you more comfortable to be a little higher. The Searey is going to spend alot of time "in the weeds" as they say - LOW FLYING over water...
