Alex's Vans RV-10 Build Log

The end of section 29 is in sight! Having completed all the drilling, I continued by permanently attaching the left and right landing gear mounts. All bolt shanks had Boelube applied and went through relatively easily. I also made sure to not forget attaching the aluminum bushings over the bolts between the center section bulkheads, and the mid seat rail supports. Left landing gear mount permanently attached Center section bulkhead bolts were torqued first, after which the side plate bolts are inserted and torqued. All bolts lay flat against the mounts after torquing. After attaching the left landing gear mount, I riveted in the left forward floor panel (except for the flange that lies against the tunnel as I will later need to also rivet in the SDS fuel pump mount using some of those hole locations). Left forward floor panel clecoed in place, and panel first riveted to the lower side channel. I had to pull in the channel a bit to get the holes to line up, but once the clecoes were in,...

With the side skins (almost) completely riveted on, I moved on to working on the landing gear mounts. This involves match drilling a few holes through the side skins, side plates and doublers directly into the landing gear mount flanges.  Steel drill templates are provided to ensure that the holes are correctly positioned, and to help guide the drill bits while drilling through the 1/8" steel. As suggested in the plans, I added some foil tape to the surface of the steel drill guides to make it easier to align the drill bit correctly for drilling. Drill templates clecoed to the side skin on the left side. 7 holes need to be match drilled to 1/4" diameter through the landing gear mount weldments After clecoing the side plate doubler and drill templates in place, but prior to placing the landing gear mount, I decided to cut away the corner of the center section rib flange using a hacksaw to make it easier to slide the landing gear mount downwards. I then inserted the left landin...