Cheers, John,
Much slower than you, but strolling ahead, I am now in your
positiuon of having to plan the last stages before the top goes on. I also
slid the top on and off 30 times and found as time goes on that the
discrepancy at the joggle you found increased. I then felt that having used
the dolly which leaves the tail area hanging out unsupported, had allowed
the tail to droop. I then re-sat the canoe into a rig which forced the tail
into the proper position vs. the cockpit area and found it had drooped over
1/2inch. When I added the top, things improved mightily - and I now have
about 1/4inch space at the joggle, which I am told is not unusual.
Perhaps I am faulty in this - if so, request correction, but
everything lines up well in my instance so am fairly confident of a smooth
installation. As an added fillip, I have used Paul's skit, via GraSing, of
putting 'splashes' over the bulkheads so that I don't have to squirm into
the bowels for the matching BiDs.
This too I hope will keep the tail higher than otherwise during curing.
Good luck to us both!
Ferg
A064
----- Original Message -----
From: <TELEDYNMCS@aol.com>
Subject: Europa-List: Fitting the top, the final frontier
|
| Greetings all,
|
| For quite some time now I've been working towards getting my top bonded
on.
| I've been trying to think of every conceivable task that needs done before
the
| top goes on in order to limit future time spent standing on my head. Just
| about the time I thought I had everything done, I'd think of a couple of
more
| things easier to do with the top off. Well, after about a month of head
| scratching, planning, thinking and diligent effort I believe I'm finally
ready for the
| canoe to look like an airplane. The problem is, I'm having trouble getting
the
| fuselage moldings to fit exactly right at the tail. I have about a 1/2"
gap at
| the joggle at the very aft end of the fuselage which tapers forward to no
gap
| and I suspect it is because I've not yet trimmed out the little triangle
| pieces left in place by the factory to strengthen the tail area. My theory
is that
| the triangle pieces are causing the upper molding to ride up on the lower
| molding and not allow it to drop into place, thus causing the gap at the
rear.
| The manual warns to not trim these little triangles out until ready to
bond, but
| I want to insure the fit is absolutely correct before mixing the green
stuff.
|
|
| So, those that have come before me, how weak is the tail after these are
cut
| out? I currently have my trigear up on it's gear and have been moving the
top
| from a set of saw horses to the bottom half, back and forth, as I tweak
the
| fit. Will this be a problem after the triangles are removed? Is the tail
sturdy
| enough to be moved by two people without damage? It looks to me like the
only
| way it could be damaged is by rotating it after the triangles are cut away
and
| not supporting the vertical fin.
|
| Regards,
|
| John Lawton
| Dunlap, TN
| A-245 (Happy 4th of July to those on this side of the pond)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|