What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Supporting the upside down fuse

nohoflyer

Well Known Member
Patron
My aft and center fuse are flipped over as i do side skins and such. Vans has you put a sawhorse under the 704 bulkhead and aft fuse. Well I learned the hard way that the the 704 bulkhead can’t take the stress and is highly unstable forward and aft. Today the unit shifted after I removed the side skins (which gave the unit a ton of stability) and the 704 bulkhead completely bent and collapsed.

So now I have to reorder the vertical sections of the bulkhead, drill out a ton of rivets, and repair.

Does anyone have a good and stable solution for the upside down canoe? Especially without the side skins on?
 
Canoe

My aft and center fuse are flipped over as i do side skins and such. Vans has you put a sawhorse under the 704 bulkhead and aft fuse. Well I learned the hard way that the the 704 bulkhead can’t take the stress and is highly unstable forward and aft. Today the unit shifted after I removed the side skins (which gave the unit a ton of stability) and the 704 bulkhead completely bent and collapsed.

So now I have to reorder the vertical sections of the bulkhead, drill out a ton of rivets, and repair.

Does anyone have a good and stable solution for the upside down canoe? Especially without the side skins on?

I didn't flip mine till the aft deck was riveted. Side skins went on and off several times.
 
To be clear it is upside down per vans instructions. As shown below except the sawhorse was under the 704 when the “incident” occurred. There has to be a better way.

 
Upside down

To be clear it is upside down per vans instructions. As shown below except the sawhorse was under the 704 when the “incident” occurred. There has to be a better way.

I stand corrected. I looked thorough my blog. Upside down. Sawhorses at 704, 706 or 707 and 711. Maybe I got lucky but I don't recall it was ever unstable to the point I was worried.
The more stable option would be two saw horses set fore/aft with a set of blocks built up to the level of the center section.
Sorry about that.
 
Ladder frame

There is a "better" way which is to use a sturdy and level ladder frame as used in the earlier kits, that is if you are prepared to go to the effort and expense of constructing one. I'm sure that other builders will tell you that this is unnecessary for the newer kits and that there are some other easier ways. A ladder frame should however work better than what you've got, with little chance of creating a pressure point to buckle a bulkhead.
 

Attachments

  • 20211029_135206.jpg
    20211029_135206.jpg
    331.4 KB · Views: 24
  • 20210722_155615.jpg
    20210722_155615.jpg
    309.7 KB · Views: 36
Burrow sawhorses

I use three of this brand saw horses.

http://www.burrobrand.com/classic-burros

They are pretty stable and have a wide top. As they are wood you can easily attach other blocks of wood to help secure the fuselage. It is not as elegant as the ladder bench but works.

You can find them at big box stores
 
Those are good sawhorses. I was changing engines on my C180 and had the engine mount and landing gear off for inspection, with the front of the airplane, otherwise fully assembled, resting on one of those. This was out at Oxnard, CA around '93. The Northridge earthquake shook that night and when I got to the hangar, everything was fine. Wish I'd been there to watch, though.

Dae
 
Back
Top