What to do next before decking in the fuselage?

I am building a 9A. I do not have a lot of builder or pilot experience, or a lot of mentoring assistance, so I am basically following the instructions and using the Van's help line (I love those guys).

The wings and empennage are done - no real problems there.

I am working on the fuselage now. I have the rear top skins fitted, dimpled, and ready to go, but off the airframe for now.

I have the landing gear weldment, and fuel and brake plumbing done. My FWF and finish kits are due to come in about two weeks. I have a pickled Lycoming IO-320 D1A sitting in a crate on the floor of my shop.

I am about a year into the project, working part time, and I am generally pleased with my progress.

My "shop" is very small - a one car garage, 11x21. I have ample off-site storage for major sub-assemblies like the wings, empennage and engine. Due to the size of my shop, I cannot fit the wings or empennage at this time. I also have some other work areas in the house (a 10x15 room), where I can work on sub-assemblies.

I want to keep the project in my shop as long as possible, and do as much as possible before the airplane leaves home.

Here's my question:

Before I install the front deck, and the rear top skin panels, what should I be installing, now, while the airplane is open?


I am a big guy (6'1", 230# - very big shoulders). I would love to have everything possible done in the tail before I close it in the forward deck and top rear skins. Reaching in, will be a lot easier than crawling in.

I am going to do a glass VFR panel. Probably Garmin G3X, 2-axis autopilot, with a future slot on the panel for a Garmin 650 (not in the budget this year). I will likely by the panel from Sarasota or Stein. I figure I am about a year out from taking panel delivery, but can order the "rough-in" elements now, if I know what they are.

I am looking for the voice of experience. Help me.

Thanks

Steven

I think your best approach is to decide on all the devices you will have aft of the baggage bulkhead and put them in now. That would likely be a combination of controls, wiring, brackets, etc. That said, installing many of those things is not a world-stopper after the aft top skins are on. I had a QB fuselage and put ALL those things in by crawling in the "tunnel". Note that the tip-up QB fuse does not have the top skin immediately aft of the rear window installed until very late in the build. That will be wise for you too.
One thing I would do now is the wiring to the rudder strobe/nav light. That goes the full length of the airplane.
You don't mention if you have a slider or TU; in the case of a TU, that skin forward of the canopy is the last skin you rivet. W-a-y too many things to work on up there to install that skin too soon. Also, as mentioned above, the top skin immediately aft of the rear window is late in the build too.
Hope that helps a little....

Type of build

I am building a 9A slider.

Type of build

I am building a 9A slider. I have the pre-made Van's wiring harness. I plan to install that this weekend.

Make sure you can get to everything (avionics?) you have installed in the tail or far aft fuselage through the tail fairing. I would recommend clecoing the aft skin in place, then remove and replace any avionics you have mounted on the aft shelf to make sure you can. What about wiring runs and the static port lines, do you have connections there that may require service at some point? Can you route them for hand access through the tail fairing? ELT antenna and cables? Wire runs for lighting in the tail?

Now repeat for the items mounted aft of the baggage bulkhead - you don't really want anything mounted too far aft to reach conveniently.

It will be a lot easier to change location of any of these items now if future maintenance is going to be a problem.

This is roughly where I'm at on my 9A TU. Installing everything behind the baggage wall before attaching the aft and rear skins. I've already installed the aft skin, before doing that I installed the static ports and lines, rudder cables and conduit from the bulkhead at the front of the aft skin back to the tail. I also pulled my trim and tail light wires. One thing that you can't do back there until the aft skin is on is attach the shoulder belt harness cables and brackets. It interferes with riveting the skin, so you'll have to get back there somehow or use a skinny assistant as I did.

For the section behind the baggage wall and under the rear skin, I've installed or am installing the following
- ADAHRS shelf
- ADAHRS (Dynon) with associated wiring
- OAT probe, under the stabiliser, wired to the ADAHRS
- a/p pitch servo and associated wiring
- static/pitot/aoa lines and connections to the ADAHRS
- ELT and antenna (only piece left to do)
I will also install my elevator pushrods before attaching the rear skin.

Bottom line, I want to avoid having to climb into the tailcone for anything, either before the skins are on or after.

As for the front deck, that's not going to get riveted together until I know I'm done in the footwell. The front top skin is probably the last thing I'll do, I have that luxury with the tipup, not sure you have it with the slider.

Checklist

Thanks Claude.

I am going to start making a "pre-close in checklist".

I'm doing a -7A slider so not much difference. Do everything you can before zipping up the tail as recommended above. The only thing I did after was the ELT, which wasn't too bad a job being just aft of the bulkhead on the Vans bracket.

I just did the top fwd skin and made sure all avionics were wired and functioning first. A few engine wires are yet to be terminated but all have been run through the FW and triple checked.

I even hung the engine first, which might be contraversial based on a -10 post the other day but had no problems with hole alignment on the top skin.

I built a RV9A TU in my garage.
Leave the top skins aft of the cockpit and aft of the firewall off as long as possible. I started with a project purchase that had the rear top skins already on. A royal PITA. Install the aft wiring first--- Elev trim, OAT, rudder lights, ELT antenna , Comm antenna, any wires to the rudder area, future antenna mounting plates, AP servo mounts and servo, ELT transmitter and at least two wiring conduits and finally one or two additional holes through the center wing spar. Vans has a new paper showing acceptable locations. Also look up all SBs and do them now.

My best idea was to install the fuselage on a rotisserie low to the floor. Rotate 45 degrees , sit on a stool and install wiring, cockpit, controls, panel and all wiring inside the fuselage. I completed the engine installation, engine wiring, baffling and cowls either on the rotisserie or on a low rolling platform. It is sooo much easier to work on installations 3 ft above the floor than at ~5 ft.

I finished the entire fuselage in the garage, then moved to the hangar and installed the wings.

I hope this gives you ideas.

WHD721:

Great advice. Thanks to you and all the others who have chimed in.

I haven't done the rotisserie, but I did make some short sawhorses that bring the floor of the airplane to about 15" above the floor of my garage. I have pretty long arms (and a good back), so reaching in is not a problem.

Given my garage size, I cannot install my tail feathers until I get to the hangar. Do you think that represents a problem?

I like your idea about keeping the top skins off as long as possible, although I am doing a slider. I think that means I need the top skin in the front and the forward-most rear top skin in place to install the slider tracks/hardware.