Flap Hinge Mounting Question

Did I screw up by dimpling the skin and flap gap fairing (along the bottom where the flap hinge mounts)? I can't find anywhere in the instructions or drawings that say to countersink the skin or fairing or wing-side flap hinge.... Any ideas?

if I recall correctly

If I recall correctly, the hinge is "holes only" un dimpled. The flap brace is countersunk and the skin and is dimpled. That's just from memory, but I'd have to look at what I did or the plans/manual to say for absolute certain.

I have heard that it's an acceptable practice to un-dimple, but I don't know about un-dimpling and then countersinking. Call Van's bout that one.

confirmed...

skin-- dimple, brace-- countersink, hinge-- drilled only

Had to look to make sure.

Seems like you can back out of this though, if nothing else, all you'd have to buy is the flap braces, but being that they're sandwiched, you're probably safe just flatening the dimples with a flat set in a squeezer and then countersinking normally.

What do you other builders say?

Thanks Bill! I called Van's and they concurred that I need to squeeze flat the dimples on the gap fairing and then countersink them. They said the rule of thumb is that a dimple can be flattened once and still maintain integrity. In this case, it is sandwiched between the skin and hinge, so its not a problem at all.

I go both ways...

I dimpled everything on one side, - including the hinge, and countersunk the brace on the other. Not sure which one I did first, probably the dimpled brace, but I decided the other way was 'correct'. I either looked at the plans (doubtful ) or talked to my son (he built his first). Both are still firmly attached after 200 hours, so structurally it doesn't matter. I do remember that the hinge is soft enough that dimpling is easy.