After church today I went to the basement to fabricate the shoulder harness attachment hardware for the rear passenger. These plates hold the shoulder harness straps and are riveted with 1.8" rivets to the top skin and a bulkhead. After fabricating the plates from .125 bar stock, I saw that I could not drill them to the top skin without crawling into the fuselage. That would require someone else drilling them from the outside. Then, on cue, flying buddy Frank Settle called and I told him to come on over for some construction. Once Frank arrived and we drilled the attachment hardware, Jim Andersen came over. We then finished the plates by shaving a portion of the rear of the plates so that they would nestle up flat against the bulkhead. Then, we prepared and primed the bottom of the top skin. I finished up by spraying an enamel coat over that portion of the top skin that would make up the top of the baggage compartment. At this point, the instructions do not say to rivet the top skin on and I was wondering if I should wait before riveting. I hit the blog (vansairforce.org) and other builders said that I should wait to rivet the skin on till all of my wiring was completed in the tail. That makes sense, so I will delay riveting it on for now.
Shoulder strap attachment plate (note shaved part on the right)
