I match drilled all of the holes in the aft top skin except for the aft most bulkhead (F-810A). I am waiting to hear back from Van’s on how to handle the gap at the bottom of the bulkhead sides. The next thing I did was install the nut plates for the tail inspection covers. I am missing one nut plate so I will have to order one next time I order some supplies. I plan to put a hole in the center of the inspection plate and cover it with clear Plexiglas so that on each walk around I can check the security of the elevator push rod attachment bolt.
The next step is to install the WD-814 windscreen support, otherwise known as the canopy bow, or roll bar by some. Before I did this I wanted to match drill the F804 caps, these cover the area that gives access to some of the canopy bow bolts. Since I had one cap already in place I wanted to install the other one and match drill the holes. I have some waves in the F-804 uprights so it takes some draw clecoes to pull things up tight. This all took some time but I finally had the caps match drilled.
You start the install of the canopy bow by installing two AN 3-4A bolts on the inside of the side rails. This took some C-clamps to get the holes lined up but I finally completed the job. Now I had to clamp the rest down to drill the holes along the side rail that also go into the upper longeron. If you just clamp the rail down you get a bow in the web area of the canopy bow attach foot. I also thought the outer holes where not as far outboard as they could be for the longeron edge distance. I redid my clamping by first clamping the web areas then clamping the side. With the web areas clamped the side lines up better with the existing rivet line. I am worried this is going to put too much tension in this area and I might end up with some cracking at the welds, once it is bolted in and the clamps are removed so I have put in another query to Van’s. My guess is the welds will be strong enough to handle any tension.
