I ran into the same discrepancy between the rudder and rudder opening as Bill
McClellan and solved it in a less ellegant but still workable way. This was
necessary because I didn't recognize the problem until I came to do the
closeout layup.
The rudder opening was too wide by about 7mm in the lower section, with a
good fit in the upper section on my Classic. I fashioned a large clamp
running the length of the rudder opening using a section of 2X3 on one side
and a piece of 1.5 inch angle iron on the other (found materials). The rudder
was hung in place with clecos onto the (somewhat floppy) edge of the opening.
Lengths of threaded rod were fitted through holes in either end of the clamp
and used to tighten it onto the rudder opening, positioned an inch or so
forward of the clecos. The clamp was tightened to get a good fit between
the rudder and the opening in the lower area - the upper area was a good fit
already. The pressure needed was such that the clamp bowed outward a bit in
the middle so foam wedges were used to achieve a straight edge for the
complete opening. Once the fit was acceptable, the rudder was removed, ply
fitted, and the closeout layup done (no sternpost in the Classic). The clamp
was left in place for 4 days to ensure the cure was complete and that the
layup would handle the strain.
The final rudder installation has now been completed and the resulting fit is
very nice.
On fitting a permanent spacer for the aft section prior to fitting the torque
tube: in my Classic a permanent spacer was fitted at the specified
measurement point. With this in place, the pitch pushrod was about an inch
too long to allow easy removal once the aft bulkhead was in place. It might
be useful to bond the permanent spacer in place a bit aft of the measurement
point since it would have been convenient to be able to easily remove the
pitch pushrod after the torque tube was bonded in and prior to bonding on the
top.
John A044
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