[rvfour]

The builder that I bought my partially completed kit from must have not been able to read and lapped the skins in reverse on the top side of the left wing. This leaves a nice notch in the left center trailing edge of the wing. I can't live with this any suggestions for a fix other than shooting myself.

 

[Kyle Boatright]

The builder that I bought my partially completed kit from must have not been able to read and lapped the skins in reverse on the top side of the left wing. This leaves a nice notch in the left center trailing edge of the wing. I can't live with this any suggestions for a fix other than shooting myself.

I'm not sure I follow. Are you saying that the inner top skin overlaps the outer skin, or something else? A picture would help, as would a description of exactly which skins are incorrectly lapped.

And ain't it fun finding the "other guy's" mistakes?

My suggestion to anyone buying a partially built kit or even a certified project airplane is to take 5x the time you think you need to verify everything. Also, take someone experienced with that type airplane with you. Patience is your friend.

 

[Lionclaw]

I don't think it would be that big of a deal to fix, so long as the bottom skins aren't on yet. You'd have to drill out the overlap rivets, overlap/rib rivets, and probably 10" of main/rear spar rivets on either side of the overlap.

 

[szicree]

The builder that I bought my partially completed kit from must have not been able to read and lapped the skins in reverse on the top side of the left wing. This leaves a nice notch in the left center trailing edge of the wing. I can't live with this any suggestions for a fix other than shooting myself.

To clarify, the inboard skin should be under the outboard skin. The inboard skin should have the notch cut out. However, I seem to remember an error in the -4 drawings that show the notch in the outboard skin. This leaves the notch exposed. Is this your situation?

 

[Kyle Boatright]

To clarify, the inboard skin should be under the outboard skin. The inboard skin should have the notch cut out. However, I seem to remember an error in the -4 drawings that show the notch in the outboard skin. This leaves the notch exposed. Is this your situation?

If the skin lap is the problem, there was an ancient article in the RVator stating that it didn't matter. In fact, I believe some of the older -4 and -6 plans showed the inner skin overlapping the outer (thinner) skin. You get a smoother transition that way. If you overlap the outer skin over the inner skin, you get <marginally> better water resistance.

On an aircraft with the top skins riveted, you'd have to entirely remove one skin and drill out a few rivets on the other to switch. Drilling out and replacing that many rivets would a no-go for me, but if the original poster has the skill and time, there is nothing to stop him...

Now regardless of which skin is on top, the bottom skin is the one that gets notched, so the notch isn't visible. If someone notches the top skin, it isn't a structural issue, but might be a minor cosmetic problem. At the least, fixing it means removing one skin and changing which skin overlaps the other one. Or entirely replacing a skin. Lots of work either way.

 

[WingsOnWheels]

My RV-6 Plans show the outboard skin under the inboard skin with the notch cut out of the outboard skin. You can tell my kit is old, the plans are blue-print.

 

[arffguy]

Overlap the skins the way you prefer

Kyle is correct. I have seen RV's with the skins put on both ways. They all fly just fine. Sorry that doesn't answer your question though.

 

[scsmith]

shouldn't need to remove the whole skin piece

It should be possible to remove a couple of rows of rivets from both skins and then flex the skins upward enough to reverse the lap, putting the notch in the bottom skin as it should be.

It really depends on how much curvature is held into the skins by the ribs, that will fight against lifting the skins up. But it seems like the aft ribs are flat enough that maybe 2-3 ribs released will allow the skins to be lifted enough.

If I'm wrong, then a whole skin would have to come off.