In the last entry I mentioned that the lower right fuel line was going to need an extension. This morning I added that extension and made a line from the fuel valve to the gascolator. Next I routed the upper flap cables, made new rudder cables, and routed the elevator trim cable. It became immediately obvious that the elevator trim cable was going to need to occupy the same space as the aileron cable. If I had put the aileron cable turnbuckle somewhere other than in the middle of the cabin, this wouldn’t have been an issue. Bob Barrows says that an offset of the aileron turnbuckle is usually enough to provide clearance. If not, it would be acceptable to split a few inches of 3/16″ Nylaflow tube and attach it to the aileron cable with some Pliobond. I think I’ll follow the path of Bearhawk builder Gavin Chester and add a fairlead just above the junction. After a break for dinner I came back to the hangar and made the left front fuel line again. This latest version looks like it will work just fine. I installed the elevator and trim tabs again so that I can verify the operation of their associated cables and such. Back when I was covering the horizontal stabilizer I sanded through the covering at the outboard end of the elevator trim torque tube. I was worried that this was going to be an ongoing problem, so I cut an access hole to see what was going on. Here is the view:
This would explain the issue. Ours is welded on instead of bolted on, and I’m not sure if that’s something that Avipro did at the factory or our previous owner did. In any case, the welding seems like a good idea, since the bolt would have been inaccessible without a hatch. My plan is to dress the edge a little, then put a patch on the hole before painting the color coats. I was going to have a patch there anyway since I had the sanding issue, but this way we’ll have less chance of abrasion once we’re operating the airplane.
Now a little bit of primer on the steel, and a little bit of MEK to remove the old patch, and it will be ready to repatch. I’ll be able to spray the area when I have the equipment out to spray the fuselage and landing gear later this summer.