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.
