RV-9A QB Fuselage

A question for anyone having built, or is building an RV-9 QB fuselage. I'm currently working at the F-705 bulkhead and have completed the modification of F-757 for a slider canopy. Rivet holes in the area were either left open or temporarily pop riveted by Van's for the builder to adjust for canopy type. In attempting to rivet open holes in F705D, F705E, and F705F with AN470-4 rivets I found that I couldn't reach the most upper and most outboard rivets with a rivet set and bucking bar. This is due to the interference of the flanges on F705 and the "U" shaped channel on the inboard side of the canopy deck, F721B. I considered using cherry max rivets in this area but can't fit the rivet gun into this tight space. would appreciate anyone's comments/recommendations on how to approach this issue. Thanks in advance.
Frank Bush

Frank had the same situation you talk of you can get solid rivets in all the holes if you have the right combination of offsets and a small tungsten bucking bar. You'll want that bucking bar to do the three rivets that you need to get under the U channel.

I ended up with all of the bucked with the exception of the top outermost hole. There I has to use a pulled rivet and somewhere I have an email that Vans support said that was acceptable.

Thanks David,
I thought I had all the rivet sets that I would ever need, including single and double offsets and some really squirlley looking ones that look like they should reach just about anywhere, but I'll see what I can locate.
Frank

Although mine's a tipup, I had pretty much the same problem. For the three rivets you mention, I had to use a 12" angled set (single offset) and put the shop head on the forward side of the bulkhead. I ground the end of the angled set slightly to avoid a big smiley on the face of F-705G (tipup only), but still ended up with some smileys around these three rivets. The rivets themselves were fine. The shop head was done with a regular tungsten bucking bar.

My RV-9A QB is at the same point (trying to figure out how to set the 470-4 rivets behind the U-channel) and caused a bit of head scratching today. Did Van's say which blind rivet was Ok to use here? It would need to be pretty long to reach through the bulkhead parts and the G angle. Also, reading ahead in the plans did not reveal the right sequence for cutting the square hole in 757-T and trimming 721-B for the Tip-Up canopy (drawing 25). I'm thinking now, before everything is riveted together, is the right time. Thoughts?

I tried to find the old email but couldn't. Sadly I didn't note what pop-rivets I used on my build log. I do remember that I had the rivets on hand and that Van's really said it was not really a structural thing, more of just filling up the hole. This is tempered with the fact that I'm doing a slider, so all those extra holes that are cut for the latch on a tip-up are filled in and riveted for me. YMMV.

Talked to a friend who has built several RV's and he suggested using stainless steel screws with nuts and locktite. Had to enlarge the existing holes ever so slightly with a jewelers file and the screws fit nice and snug. This eliminated all of the issues of getting a set and bucking bar to fit in that tight spot or trying to use a pop rivet tool. Thanks again for your comments.
Frank