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Bob's Searey LSX Web Site
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Date: 9-3-2020
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Number of Hours: 4.00
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Manual Reference: Section 23
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Brief Description: Rudder gap seal & trim tab
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I had positioned, drilled and clecoed the rudder trim tab in place a long time ago but finally decided to rivet it permanently. I was feeling I had too many work fronts open and needed to get at least one behind me, even a very small one like this, to feel like I was making solid progress. So, done!
Installing the rudder gap seal should have been very straight forward, but the manual let me down again, resulting in wasted time. Back on 24 October 2015 I switched from the printed manual that came in the original crate shipment to a new manual received on a thumb drive from Progressive Aerodyne that I believed reflected the factory assembled LSA model. But in Chapter 33 of this 'new' manual there was no reference to installing the rudder gap seal. So I dug out the 'old' manual and found the instructions in Section 23. There was nothing that I couldn't have figured out on my own in these instructions and no modifications of the supplied parts were required, but... ASSUME makes an ASS out of U and ME... and assumptions are expensive and dangerous when you are building a plane.
At this time I realized I was running low on the aluminum AB4-3A rivets that secure all these gap seals so I ordered 50 more. I couldn't find the exact match in the Aircraft Spruce catagog so turned to Progressive Aerodyne's online store. Cheap at $2.50 for 50 rivets but the lowest shipping cost was about $30! So I decided it was time to complain to PA that they never supplied the four pieces of aluminum angle (Gap Seal Attach Angle 12" and 8") required later for the inboard ends of the wings. To their immense credit PA immediately agreed to supply the missing pieces free of charge, including the shipping, and packaged them with the rivets, so I only paid $2.50 overall. US$ mind you, but still an excellent resolution for me. Thanks guys. I almost forgive you the minor problems that I am encountering with the gap seal installations.
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Rudder trim tab riveted
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Rudder gap seal riveting
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