Alex's Vans RV-10 Build Log

The remaining cables to be routed under the rear seats before the floors are permanently installed are the COM Antenna cables.  I had previously riveted doublers to the bottom skin in the area of the second most outboard bay under the rear seats on each side of the cabin, so now it was a matter of running a coax cable from there to the cabin side and forward towards the panel area. I purchased about 75ft of RG400 coax cable which I estimate should be enough for all the coax cable runs needed for my setup, and cut two 10ft lengths for the COM Antenna runs. Prior to running the coax cables, I crimped female BNC connectors onto one end of each cable. This was relatively straightforward using a suitable crimper and taking care to keep the shield and conductor separated. Female BNC connectors crimped onto one end of each RG400 cable Each COM Antenna cable passes through a hole punched in the second most outboard rear seat rib, and then up through the rear seat floor where it then contin...

While planning out routing of conduits under the baggage area rear seat floors, I also took time to plan out battery cable routing.  My electrical system will consist of a single battery, single alternator and backup generator setup, and the battery will be placed in the standard location in the tail cone. I have also decided to ground the battery at the tail cone, and this means that I only need to run a single 2AWG battery cable from the tail cone to the firewall. I purchased a 15ft length of 2AWG tefzel cable with a red colored casing to easily identify it as the positive power wire, and carefully planned out where I would need to attach brackets to support the cable as it gets routed down the left side of the airplane.  The cable run under the baggage area requires the most supporting brackets as this is a relatively long run, and aside from making sure that the cable would be secure, I also wanted to keep it as far away from the conduit runs as possible. From the tail con...

For the fuel (and brake) system hoses I am using those made by Aircraft Specialty in order to avoid having to make my own from the Aluminum tubing that is provided in the kit. As I get a better understanding of which hoses run where, there a three that need to run under the front seat on each side of the airplane two -6 hoses for the fuel system, one out and one return one -4 hose for the brake system The systems brackets that were previously riveted to the bottom skin are used to route these hoses under the seats, and the plans have you install rubber grommets and aluminum braces to lock everything in place. As the Aircraft Specialty hoses have a larger diameter than the aluminum tubing (for which I had previously enlarged the guide openings in the systems brackets to accommodate those hoses), I decided to use a 3D printed bracket (once again designed and made available by Allan Glen) that screws into the systems brackets into which the hoses clip perfectly and can be secured with zi...

I made a start on rudder pedal installation while there is still easy access to the forward cabin area. I had previously documented assembling my Control Approach rudder pedal kit, so pulled those out of storage and jumped ahead to section 38. Skipping over the instructions that have you assemble the Van's stock rudder pedals, I started by drilling the Delrin support blocks that will hold the rudder pedals on each side of the cabin. Using the bearing block mount plate as a guide, I drilled #12 holes into each bearing block about 1/8" deep (it doesn't take much drill pressure to drill into the Delrin!), and then moved to the drill press to finish drilling the holes all the way through to #10. Drilling the bearing block on the drill press. I made sure the drill bit was perpendicular to the block prior to drilling, and first drilled each hole to #12, and then reamed to #10 Left bearing block holes came out perfectly matched with the mount plate holes. Right bearing block requ...

Prior to closing out the baggage and rear seat floors, I gave a lot of thought to routing of wiring and cables that would need to pass from the tail cone forward toward the firewall.  As I don't currently have a full picture of the specific wiring that I will need to run, I decided to do what many other builders have done, and run several conduits under the floors through which I will later be able to fish wire bundles. I started planning the conduit runs by first making sure that any potential obstacles were accounted for. I also wanted to avoid cutting additional holes through the bulkheads wherever possible, and luckily there are several existing lightning holes through which conduits can pass. The storage bins I am installing in the baggage area make it difficult to run conduit down the central channels. There is, however, adequate space in the outboard channels Initial plan is to run 3 3/4" conduits down each side of the cabin, with two coming up through each rear seat fl...