I broke the procrastination spell tonight and started drilling the holes in the new skins. I loaned my digital camera out so I don’t have pictures but I basically laid Van’s tank skin on top of my blank, clamped it along the edges and started drilling. Once I started drilling I used clecos every 4 or 5 holes to keep things in position. I started at the inboard end then moved the skin over and drilled the outboard end. The ribs are 10” on center. I’m keeping to that except for the 2 outboard ribs where I’ll space them a little farther apart. The outboard rib will obviously be clear at the end. The next rib will be 17” from 3rd rib primarily to clear the lightning holes in the spar. I plan on using the z-brackets the entire length of the spar. I finished one side of one skin so I’m 25% done! Woohoo. The rest should go quicker now that I’m comfortable with everything.

(Time: 3 hours)
- posted by Matthew @ 9/9/2003 09:35:40 AM