September 20-21, 2020
We riveted on the turtle deck in preparation for the canopy work. This was standard work that required a driving rivets, but overall a simple task. Kacy ran the gun and I laid inside and held the bucking bar.
We purchased the top rail from an RV8 to install on our turtle deck. Its about 18″ longer than the RV7 top rail which will let us use a single piece of aluminum without having to install the extension that comes with the Supertracks kit. Once its fully drilled and the canopy is fitted I’ll trim off the extra on the back, install a doubler plate behind the rear bulkhead, and install an extra screw or two to hold the longer track in place.
We also installed the static port kit. We decided the 30 bucks was worth it to upgrade to the show planes static ports. The idea of using a rivet and some RTV as called for in the plans just didn’t sit well. We connected the two sides together at the bottom of the loop using 3 way push-fit connectors. The idea is that any water in the system will pass vertically through the connectors and gather in the lower tube. The static pressure itself it pulled out of the connector at a higher point and shouldn’t allow any water to accumulate in the line going forward. We’ll add an step in the annual to visually inspect that lower line and remove any water in it as required.
-Paul
(Total Build Time: 652.1)