Question on Horizontal Stab position-

[jabarr]

I am in the process of drilling my horizontal stab to the fuselage. With the front drilled and bolted down (including the shims) the instructions say a 3/16" gap below the rear spar and the aft deck will set the incidence at 0. They say to check that with the tooling holes in the inboard stabilizer. With my tooling holes parrallel to the aft deck, my gap between the rear spar and aft deck is more like 9/32" instead of 3/16". I assume it is more important to get the tooling holes parrallel than to worry about the 3/16" measurement.
Am I doing something wrong or is this more the normal way for it to turn out??

 

[Rivethead]

So are you sure your shims are correct and your stab is level to the fuse? I was probably the most impressed with Vans at this point and pretty happy with myself to boot. Once I finished the job of attaching the stab I backed up and sighted along the bottom of the HS and the image of the connection looked exactly like the drawing of the connection on the plans. In other words the gap between the rear fuse skin and the lower HS surface formed an exact matching gap when compaired to each other. At this point it's really important to work exactly level from side to side.

 

[sbarger24]

I'm at the same stage, well actually drilled my rear holes last weekend. I also found that 9/32 of a gap was 0 degree incidence. At 9/32 my tooling holes were level and using a electronic level my HS was the same degrees as my canopy rails on the fusalage.

At 3/16 of an inch I was only 0.3 degree difference from the fusalage, which probably wouldn't make a bit of difference, but I chose to get it closer.

Steve RV-7A

 

[jabarr]

thanks-

Thanks for your comments gentlemen. I have rechecked that the stab is level in both axis. I called Vans and they said as long as the stab is at 0 degrees with the fuselage, I should be good. It looks like it's going to be at 9/32 at the rear spar. I will recheck once again before I drill the holes. Any other comments welcome.