November 25, 2005 - Center Fuse
Like most people, I had the day after Thanksgiving off.  Instead of shopping, I did some serious RV-building.  My goal for the day was to rivet the seat ribs to the F-704 bulkhead. 

First I dimpled the F-704 bulkhead bottom flanges.  These flanges were thinner than the wing spar flanges so I was able to dimple instead of countersinking.  There are four holes on the forward bulkhead flange that were countersunk and don't get dimpled.  I put blue tape over these so I didn't accidentally dimple them. 

The F-704 bulkhead.
I spent sometime reviewing the center fuselage plans, reading every single little note.  I highlighted all comments where action was required.  If I had completed the action, I wrote "Done." in red.  If I hadn't completed the action yet, I put a red box next to the comment. 

This is something I strongly recommend doing throughout the entire project.  It is especially important as the project progresses because there are many things in the plans that are not addressed in the instructions.  It is very easy to miss something that may not be possible to accomplish once the particular assembly is riveted together. 

Next I took apart the F-704 bulkhead.  Then I clecoed the seat ribs to the aft F-704 bulkhead.
Despite reviewing the plans carefully, I discovered I had missed something.  I had not drilled holes for the AN-3 bolts that fasten the rib flange to the bulkhead at the top and bottom.  So I had to matchdrill the holes, using the bulkhead as a template. 
Finally I was ready to rivet ... and bolt.  The riveting was fairly easy.  By bending the rib to the side slightly, I was able to use the straight set on the gun.  Bolting the top and bottom of each rib flange to the spar was a piece of cake.
A close-up of one of the riveted/bolted seat ribs.
The view from the other side of the bulkhead. 
All seat ribs riveted and bolted to the rear F-704 bulkhead. 
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