A difficult decision to repair

I've been feeling pretty good about my fiberglass skills this week, and decided to take a hard look at a mistake I made. Despite being very careful I still cut the cluster bracket/aft root support hole too big on the aft end. My turtledeck was not perfect, there were already evidence of some repairs made at the factory.

I took a day and looked at it, and ultimately decided I had to fix it. Gulp......

IAW various sources, I drew a 12:1 slope and carefully sanded the inside down...

Then I made a backing of scrap cardboard and saran wrap as a backer. 

The manuals offered differing opinions about starting with small pieces and building out, or starting with large pieces and finishing with small ones. I did a mixture, using West Systems 205 fast hardener.

 And of course, Saran Wrap as a sealer until it dried.

Yeah, I laid it on a bit thick. I can always sand the excess off.

I had nightmares of epoxy running through the backer and running down the outside of the deck, making a mess. Just a couple small oozes that were scraped up with a fingernail. 

Then I sanded the patch down until there was a small depression. Safety glasses for sanding, you ask? Believe it or not, they're safety glasses with "cheater" lenses built into the bottom for us old guys.

The depression was then filled with gelcoat. Leveling the deck allowed the gelcoat to flow and fill into the depression. I hoped.

Yes!! It worked. 

Just like a big model, sand carefully and feather...

A couple of touchup spots. 

The reward is wet sanding with 400, then 600, 800, 1,000, and finally 1,500 sandpaper. THEN a lambswool buffer, followed by a foam pad and polish.

Spots to fix. 

I'd think it was perfect when looked at outside, then I'd take it in and look at it under the florescent hangar lights. Back out I'd go for some more sanding, buffing, polishing....

Here's what the are looks like on a finished and well flown SeaRey.

Remember reading about resin cooking off as it sets? Here you go.

Rust never sleeps

Thanks to Dan Nickens for the suggestion, I'm giving the control cables and bolts a coat of Black Bear par-al-ketone. It's also IAW AC  43.13-1B, part 6-206-208

Remember that problem with the cluster brackets I was having last year, when they were bent incorrectly and too tight for the aft root tube support? I knew the new ones were wide enough to let the support drop in, but I should have put a bolt in and checked out the longitudinal alignment....

It's only a few degrees misaligned and can be pulled into position, but it's the idea of having to...

Nose rings and trim, these kids nowadays!!!!

Been moving the hull around and thought it would be better to install the nose ring instead of continuing to pull on the hull.

The bolt is a bit too long, I needed to get out my angle grinder. Oh darn....

Next came mounting the pitch trim sensor. Nod to Ken Berger for suggesting the rc airplane parts.

I call it operational checking, some might call it playing with the sensor. Either way, I wanted to make sure the sensor and display were working before installing it.

Other builds showed the sensor installed upside down, my anal retentive side said to put it in right side up. A piece of double stick tape (we used to call it servo tape) to hold it in place. 

And zip ties  to be sure.

Uhhh.... Ok, that's why it's not right side up. Lemme fix that. 

How far down should the sensor arm be mounted? I'll make a guess and start here. 

Dumb fracking luck, it was the right spot on the first try. 

By the way, the newly revised assembly manual has you doing all this with the frame already mounted inside the hull. I can't see how.

Hard at work....

Just thought I'd share a couple images from work last week.


Overtaking a FedEx MD-11...

Cloud shadows over Pakistan

Arctic ice

Greenland

Northern Lights. I winked at Neil, and sent some good vibes out for Richard.