29 Sep 2024
Rear inner skins
Installed right rear inner skin and riveted most of the left - ran out of rivets so will need to wait for more to arrive from Sling. I have excess 989's and insufficient 998's, so perhaps someone at the factory made an error when picking.
Installed the oxygen piping behind the rear seat backrest stops - upgraded from the 4mm I had previously bought to 6mm, which needed elbows to navigate the angle through rib 2 and I had to drill through the backrest support brackets, but it has come out well. I wanted the piping to be accessible if it ever needs to be replaced, even if it means re-riveting the backrest stops, but at least it's not behind the side skins.
Installed flexible vent pipe on the right NACA duct / HVAC / cutoff valve. Needs some final adjustment but looks good. Completed half of the left side. I decided to de-rivet the CB-BKT-015 and go with my original plan to secure them to the fuselage with M3 rivnuts and stainless steel machine screws (flat screwdriver variety), since removing the allen key head dome screws in the top of the NACA vent cutoff housings is way too time-consuming. I drilled the back of the cutoff housing to enable a screwdriver to pass through to access the screws behind it. Works far better for future maintenance. Need to do the left side next.