hinge or camlocks for cowl vertical sides ?

[tonyjohnson]

I have read that some of you have used camlocks on part of the cowl mounting system and hinges in other areas.

I will use skybolt fasteners on the upper cowl at the firewall and the bottom cowl near the exhaust. I plan to use offset hinges on the horizontal cowl joint between the upper and lower cowls. I had intended to use the skybolt fasteners on the sides of the lower cowl along the firewall. Having read about that issue here I am now considering using hinges on the lower cowl sides at the firewall.

One poster wrote that he used camlocks on the sides and would use hinges the next time....another wrote that he used hinges on the side and would use camlocks if he did it again.

I would appreciate feedback from those of you who used one or the other and are happy with your choice, or wish you had gone another way.

What say you.....hinges or camlocks on the lower cowl vertical portion at the firewall??

[alpinelakespilot2000]

Hinges are a piece of cake anywhere there are straight runs and where access to the pin is easy. That is certainly true of the lower cowl-firewall intersection along the sides. I used camlocs for the entire top cowl (including top cowl-bottom cowl seam) and hinge elsewhere, but would save LOTS of money next time by just using them around the curved portion of the top cowl at the firewall.

[Kyle Boatright]

I have hinges on the vertical sides and along the cowling split. Screws along the top and bottom of the firewall.

I'm very satisfied with this set-up.

[Bob Axsom]

I used hinges at all locations as called for in the RV-6A drawings. That worked well at first. Across the bottom rivets started "working" in the cowl and heads eventually popping off. I drilled out all of the rivets which were #3 (3/32" dia.) and replaced them with #4 (1/8" dia.) rivets. Those started working and I drilled out the hinge mounting rivets to remove the two sets of hinges at the bottom of the cowl and firewall/lower fuselage skin. I riveted aluminum plates to the firewall/lower fuselage skin with #4 rivets and mounter #8 platenuts on these plates in line with the old hinge mounting rivet holes in the cowl. I opened the holes in the cowl for the 8/32 flathead stainless steel screws and countersunk them to accept #8 dimpled washers. In ~ 600 hours of operation I have had no problem with any other hinge locations and the arrangement at the bottom works very well. I like the way the hinge installations hold the adjacent edges in perfect alignment and nothing is exposed but cowl and skin surface but I had no choice but to come up with a fix for the bottom cowl to fuselage interface.

Bob Axsom

[L.Adamson]

Originally Posted by Bob Axsom

I used hinges at all locations as called for in the RV-6A drawings. That worked well at first. Across the bottom rivets started "working" in the cowl and heads eventually popping off. I drilled out all of the rivets which were #3 (3/32" dia.) and replaced them with #4 (1/8" dia.) rivets. Those started working and I drilled out the hinge mounting rivets to remove the two sets of hinges at the bottom of the cowl and firewall/lower fuselage skin. I riveted aluminum plates to the firewall/lower fuselage skin with #4 rivets and mounter #8 platenuts on these plates in line with the old hinge mounting rivet holes in the cowl. I opened the holes in the cowl for the 8/32 flathead stainless steel screws and countersunk them to accept #8 dimpled washers. In ~ 600 hours of operation I have had no problem with any other hinge locations and the arrangement at the bottom works very well. I like the way the hinge installations hold the adjacent edges in perfect alignment and nothing is exposed but cowl and skin surface but I had no choice but to come up with a fix for the bottom cowl to fuselage interface.

I'm also using hinges everywhere but the bottom & behind the prop. These use #8's with nutplates. I had fair warning from others (thanks to these forums) to install plates & screws on the bottom to start with. It doesn't take many flights before the curved section hinge wires become easy to remove, while the vertical & horizontal sides are a cinch to begin with. Besides, the hinges don't flex the cowl, as the spaces between camlocks or screws can.

L.Adamson --- RV6A