When I started flying the Val, there were a few things that weren't truly finished - little stuff in the cockpit that I figured could wait....caue I wanted to FLY!!! One of those things was the rear stick boot - I had made a close-out plate to cover the big hole and serve as a mount for a metal eyeball vent, but I had left the opening without a boot. I had gotten a set of boots with my interior, but at that stage on the project I was tired of trying to figure out just how to mount them so that they'd look good.
Well, now that I am traveling with Louise doing navigation duties from the rear seat, we figured it was time to cover the hole. OK, it had something to do with that moment on the last trip when she said "Paul, I think I just saw something small fall down by the stick, but I don't know what it was....." Well, it wasn't her fault that I had never closed it up, so I had no one to blame but myself. (Turned out to be not a problem - a little plastic thing the size of a pen cap that was easily recovered....)
Anyway, the other night, I pulled one of the stick boots out of the spare parts bins and realized that what had thrown me before was the amount of extra material that D.J. Lauritsen had given me....since everyone does their own mount design, she is generous! In my case, I realized that I could cut about 2/3rds of it away, right up to the base of the zipper. I made a frame the same shape as the opening in the aluminum cover, cut the excess material off the boot, made a few slits at the corner, and glued the boot on to the bottom of the frame. It was then an easy job to remove the cover, match drill the frame/boot assembly to the cover (with the boot sandwiched in between), and then install some nutplates to screw down the cover. Hmmm....I hadn't done a nutplate for a year and a half, and I still knew how!
Here's a couple of pictures, in case anyone is looking for ideas....
(P.S.: The aluminum cover pate with the eyeball vent is just velcroed to the floor - I added it after I had the floor rivetted down, and it was too late to add nutplates.....makes it easy to inspect the stick linkages though!)
Well, now that I am traveling with Louise doing navigation duties from the rear seat, we figured it was time to cover the hole. OK, it had something to do with that moment on the last trip when she said "Paul, I think I just saw something small fall down by the stick, but I don't know what it was....." Well, it wasn't her fault that I had never closed it up, so I had no one to blame but myself. (Turned out to be not a problem - a little plastic thing the size of a pen cap that was easily recovered....)
Anyway, the other night, I pulled one of the stick boots out of the spare parts bins and realized that what had thrown me before was the amount of extra material that D.J. Lauritsen had given me....since everyone does their own mount design, she is generous! In my case, I realized that I could cut about 2/3rds of it away, right up to the base of the zipper. I made a frame the same shape as the opening in the aluminum cover, cut the excess material off the boot, made a few slits at the corner, and glued the boot on to the bottom of the frame. It was then an easy job to remove the cover, match drill the frame/boot assembly to the cover (with the boot sandwiched in between), and then install some nutplates to screw down the cover. Hmmm....I hadn't done a nutplate for a year and a half, and I still knew how!
Here's a couple of pictures, in case anyone is looking for ideas....
(P.S.: The aluminum cover pate with the eyeball vent is just velcroed to the floor - I added it after I had the floor rivetted down, and it was too late to add nutplates.....makes it easy to inspect the stick linkages though!)
