Ivan's RV-7

Riveting the remaining fuselage aft rivetsTimer icon2h

January 16, 2023

Continued riveting the aft fuselage today.

I did the J-channels rivets between the F-710 and F-711 bulkheads.

Riveting fuselage aft.

Then I continued with the F-711 bulkhead, and this is where I found a problem. One rivet just didn't want to set correctly, and after a few attempts, I realized I am making a dent in the skin.

Dent in the fuselage skin.

Turned out, the flange of the aft part of the F-711 was either not adjusted correctly or was offset such that the skin was not tight to it. I did not notice it, which is what was causing the bad fit and the dent in the skin.

I removed all the rivets from the aft part of the F-711 and tried putting some shims. Seems like this should work, will see once I try to rivet it again.

Shimming the bulkhead flange.