Brief Description: Fabricate a doubler for the baggage bulkhead acces
I recently received the great news that my friend Jamie Painter flew his RV-7A for the first time! His ship flies great and he is now doing the thousand things you need to do to "finish" the project. Jamie has been a real inspiration to me. His fantastic web site has provided me with tons of tips as well as the fortitude to continue on my own ship. As they say in Australia, "Good on ya." After too long a layoff, I got back in the shop tonight. Since I am deviating from the plans by cutting an access door in the baggage bulkhead, I had to do a little shade tree engineering to determine how to pull it off without compromising structural integrity. I used the .060" thick aluminum sheet I ordered from Vans to cut out a doubler which I will rivet to the bulkhead. Once I roughed out the doubler, I drilled and clecoed it to the bulkhead and then used files to smooth the two surfaces together. Next, I will drill the holes for the nut plates that will allow the door to be screwed to the (now reinforced) baggage bulkhead. Later, I will cut out the door from .035" aluminum sheet.
