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Tie Down Drill Error

osaleh

Active Member
Hi All,

I am wokring on left wing for my RV7A. The tie down bracket was not sitting properly when I was trying to drill through the W701-L-1 skin. I ended up drilling a hole that was too high. Then when i realized my mistake, i drilled the proper hole to see what i will get. Now I have a figure 8. The buttom hole ofcourse is the correct one. Can I salvage this by maybe riveting a small patch over it? Or do i have to now replace the skin? I am not sure how to attach an image to this message but i will try below.


 
Sounds like you will need a bigger washer.

The image needs to be on the web somewhere...such as: picasaweb.com



[edit: looks like I type too slow]
 
You did the correct thing in asking what to do. When I was faced with these sorts of things that is what I would do, then find the best fix that I would be happy with.

I have not seen a perfect RV yet.

I would not buy a new skin, however I would just put a patch over it ( outside ) and rivet it in. If you wanted to get " flash " you could make it into some sort of inspection hole. I have a patch on one of my wings and no one has pointed it out.

I dont see it as a safety issue, just sent an email to Vans and see.

Build on ! :)
 
a patch/plug

There should be room to acces the blemish from the inside.

Doubler the inside and rivet a plug to the doubler that matches the part of the figure 8 that you want to cover that is the same thickness as the bottom wing skin. Add a little filler, sand, prime.

Just saw a writeup bout a guy who cut out the entire shape of the naca vent... and the repair was very similar and quite a graceful solution really.
 
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If you use a hole saw to drill a nice circular patch and rivet it in, it will just look like a doubler. You put it there to protect the skin when using jacks! Ya... that's the ticket. My story and I'm sticking to it.
 
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