Yesterday, when I wrote the outlook for today's work, I expected to be rather short of work than not being able to complete all the tasks I had planned to do. Trimming the rudder and vertical stabilizer tips seemed to be rather benign and a job to be completed in a few minutes.
It turned out to take me 5 hours to complete it. I started by emphasizing the scribe line for the initial rough trimming.
With the help of the belt sander I was able to quickly remove the excess material and get a nice fit of the tips.
The next step was to match drill the tips to the rudder and the vertical stabilizer. I started with the latter.
Then there was some more trimming to the tip of the vertical stabilizer required. The aft edge had to follow the edge of the metal skin. Again, the belt sander made a quick task out of this.
And then the process stalled. I had to temporarily install the rudder and connect it with the stabilizer. However, Van's must have used kid's labor to get these bolts in there on their SLSA. I have no other explanation that they ended up with a access space so tiny and claiming that they succeeded. It took me what like forever to get the bolts in there. Initially, I had even tried to get the washers in there but quickly succumbed to the inexplicable aggravation this attempt had caused in respect to the aforementioned tiny space. So I ended up inserting the bolts only and lifting the rudder slightly when checking for clearance. It's not really a delicate tolerance to begin with.
About 8 or 10 times of removing the tip, sanding it a bit more and reinstalling it, I was at the required fit of 1/8" clearance to any edges over the full travel range from stop to stop. I mainly used the belt sander again but also the Dremel tool with the drum sander in a few spots.
I finally riveted the tip to the rudder. Holding off on the stabilizer at that point as I discovered that the primer I had sprayed about two years ago was a bit thin on the top rib. As this one would get exposed most to environmental influences, I decided to top the coat with some Napa primer and let this dry before riveting the tip in place.
That was my day in the shop. I assume tomorrow will then take care of the rest of yesterday's outlook. This was to work on the rear bulkhead and floor panel. I am not planing for anything else at this point as this got delayed so many times before already.
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