Finished riveting side skins and installed systems

Finished riveting the side skins! Remy came down and bucked that last row that I couldn’t reach solo.

Ran the rudder cables, wiring harness, and ELT antenna cable.

Remy helped rivet the rudder stops.

Installed the rudder cable guide blocks.

Installed the nut plates along the longerons. I didn’t rivet the nut plates for the cover plates because I decided to use countersunk screws and needed to order the correct nut plates from Van’s.

I installed the static ports. Here’s one from the outside.

…and from the inside. The static ports are actually pop rivets. I set the rivets and then used the broken off part of the mandrel to drive out the part that remained in the rivet.  I drilled a 1/4″ hole in a piece of scrap wood and used it as a backing block and tapped the mandrel out with a small hammer.

After I took this picture, I added a fillet of silicone around the tube and fitting per the instructions.

While preparing to install the static system, I wasn’t paying attention to the instructions and cut the polypropylene tubing instead of the clear tubing. So I ordered a replacement from Van’s along with my nut plates.