Primed inside of hull, Rudder, Elevators 10/18/15

We sanded the inside of the hull and washed it to prepare for the 2 part epoxy primer that is the first step for the tuffcoat paint that we have chosen instead of carpet for the inside of the hull.  It is a rubberized, textured paint.  I’d read about one other Searey builder who had…

Painting gas tank – 10/10/15

Ethan had a friend help him paint the gas tank with green primer on 10/9.  That took about 3 hours to rough it up with scotchbrite pads and paint. He brought over the gas tank  on 10/10 and we spent an hour doing riveting and looking at some lime buildup inside of the tank.  We’re…

Hull touchup, Build Elevators, build Floats 10/7/15

We worked on touching up the hull today and building the elevators and float attachments. The hull had some small gaps in the corners that we filled with West Epoxy Adhesive 610. The thinking there is that water could get in the crevices and damage the hull if it froze.  Someone on the STS site thought…

Drilled Bilge plugs, built stabilizers 10/4/15

Today we drilled the bilge hole plugs which was a little scary because you don’t want to make a mistake. We used a 1 inch hole saw, put tape on the front and held a board on the backside. The hull is pretty thick,  after drilling we had a 13/16 inch plug in the back and a…

Flap and Aileron actuators – 9/30/15

Did several different things today. Finished rudder pedal covers – got the needed longer rivets. Installed the vertical fin compression strut Installed the electric trim actuators and some of the linkages Installed the electric flap actuators and some of the linkages Put in the new aileron torque tube blocks with bearings – LSX upgrade –…

Aileron conversion kit & rivet info – 9/27/15

We started installing the aileron control conversion kit today.  It uses different bearings and a push/pull tube vs. cables and it moves smoother with less force.   We’re missing the needle bearings for the post and asked PA to send.   rudder cable pulley It was difficult to drill holes through the rudder pedal, is…