Closing up the Elevators - 6 Hours

I started out the evening with the intent to just do a few things on the elevator and wound up putting in a ton of time! I used a little RTV to attach the counterweights to the elevators with the intent to let it dry. I then began to stew a bit on how the torquing of the bolts will go once the RTV is dry.

 It seemed much more reasonable to me to torque them while the RTV is wet, giving the chance for the RTV to squeeze out and get a more reliable torque out of it. So I kept going.

I then worked on my oops dimple a removed the crack with a file, as per Van's recommendations in their email. I dimpled the proper hole and once the rivet is installed, there will be virtually no trace of any oops.

I then got to work on building a block to squeeze the trailing edges of the elevators. I built it exactly how van's describes and it worked extremely well. 

I then installed a 1/8" dowel at the back of the trailing edge and used dabs of RTV where the stiffeners meet to reduce vibration. I kept the dowel in place as I began to cleco the elevators shut.   

After I torqued the counterweight screws, I Squeezed the trailing edges (carefully!!). I was able to get the fall off nearly perfect!   

I then began to rivet the elevators closed.Every half hour or so I would turn the dowels stuck in the elevators to make sure the RTV was not setting up on them. By the end of the night, I pulled the downs out of the elevators and had a look. Perfect! the stiffeners are supported by RTV but there still is a weeping hole for drainage clear thru the elevator.