One Point of View
In an effort to keep things simple and hold kit costs down for all of us, Van's
does direct the builder to pop rivet many assemblies into place on a permanent basis. These items include the cabin floors, empennage fairings, and wingtips among other items. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with that design philosophy because it is fast, cheap and it works. HOWEVER, for whatever reason, many builders go on to attach wingtips using screws and nut plates. I even made all the empennage tips removable. For both practical and psychological reasons, I followed the lead of my experience in aircraft construction where NOTHING on military planes is ever covered up on a permanent basis.
In keeping with that design philosophy I made the floors removable on both my RV's and on both my RV's I am glad I did. After screwing the floors into place "permanently" I later decided on design changes that required additional wires. NO BIG DEAL. Off the floors came and in with the additional wiring. Some builders install conduit under the floor and accept whatever limitations are inherent with that choice. Others will happily snake wires under the floors as best they can and leave it go at that. Not me. No visions of unsupported wires bouncing around underneath my feet in any RV I build.
Question: What if your passenger spills a full can of soda, its syrupy contents seeping under the floor? You just gonna leave that sticky residue down there to entice mud daubers and field mice with its heady scent?
Another point: On a tricycle gear RV, the structure somewhere beneath your feet is the low point on the airframe and water has been known to collect in that area. Maybe the builder thought to drill some drain holes, maybe he didn't. If he did, in practice maybe the location is proving less than 100% effective. If he didn't drill any drain holes..... well, he didn't. Like many things, these are choices. Even though I prefer the floors be installed with screws, I still feel no need to remove them at every condition inspection. Indeed, barring some obvious justification, will only do so every 5 years or so. I just want to take a look around. Sure you can drill out a series of pop rivets but by training and inclination justs seems a bit "cheesy" to me.
Bottom line: Assess
your own requirements. The airplane you build is an expression and extension of yourself, not unlike the car parked in your driveway. No doubt other builders assess their own requirements and they stop short after deciding to make the wingtips removable despite Van's instructions. So then, choosing to install removable wingtips or any other design variance then becomes a matter of degree, does it not? Rest assured, no matter what path we choose, it is a virtual certainty other builders with come to conclusions quite the polar opposite our own. That's what makes RV's unique, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
