Paint The Seat Back Rail or Not
 

Interior painting is coming up soon.

I'm trying to decide what and what not to paint. It all seems pretty straight forward except the seat back rail. On the -7 that's the F-705.

The reason I'm unsure is, a friend who built a -9A left it unpainted due to close tolerances for the seat back supports. These seat back supports slip under one pf two lips to adjust the angle of the seat back.

Currently my seat back rail is unprimed and lightly burnished but I would prefer that it matches the rest of the interior.

After 18 years mine still looks pretty good. I vote for paint.

Mine is painted and binds as you note, making it difficult to pull the seat forward. You could mask off the portion (tab) that tucks under and leave it unpainted. I have been contemplating removing the paint on that portion but I just don’t need to hinge the seat forward enough so it has never been a priority.

Mine were painted and stuck regularly. Pulling baggage out also kept catching them. I found that I was flying with them in the down position so decided to pull the pins and removed them both. No more hassles. Passengers had to put up with the lean back.
If you use them I would suggest no paint.

Paint
 

Paint and remove the adjuster plates. I always flew without them engaged and finally removed them.

Seat rails
 

Guess I have two seat rails painted both sides and may not use them.:D
Kidding. Wr are very short and both need the seat propped. Had I been thinking, the bottoms would not be painted. :eek:

Just had mine covered with ?grey rubber step tread.? Looks pretty good! Also covered metal seat panels.

If you covered the portion (tab) on the hinged support, you will never get it into the slot. This is the issue even with a relatively thin coat of paint and the reason for this thread I believe.
However, I am sure it looks good. You can still strip the coating off of the tab portion and the ?adjustable? back rest support should work as designed.

That portion of the back rail was left uncovered for the reason you mentioned. We were extremely aware of both the need for repeat access (seat panels, flap actuator area covers, seat back hinge pins access, etc.) and tightness issues as the step tread was laid. Was not easy to do but results worth it. Will try to post pictures when interior update is complete.

I’m down medically awaiting a SI therefore took this opportunity to update the interior and ELT to 406 MHz. Hopefully my SI will be granted or there’ll be another RV7A on the market.

Wish I was smart enough to do that. Good luck and hope you get back in the air.