Today I had 2 goals, both involving work at the hangar.

First, I needed to get the left wingtip nav/strobe light bracket set in place to allow me to install the nav/strobe light without an egregious gap between the light and wing tip edge.

I started that task off by first tracing the mounted light bracket so I could then remove paint, primer and micro as required —mostly towards the top and aft edge of the bracket— to get the light to sit <more> flush on the wing end surface.

Although I had used a flat sanding block specifically to create a flat light mounting surface during the finishing process, there was still an ever so slight contour to it and the light just was not having it… refusing to engage and slide down the 3 mounting tabs to secure it in place BEFORE the aft side setscrew was seated.

After literally hours of messing around with it, I finally minimized the top aft gap between nav/strobe light assembly and the wing tip edge by essentially transferring that gap to the bottom of the light.  After multiple hours of messing with it to no avail, I begrudgingly accepted this compromise to get this task done and move on with things… simply wanting to first ensure the light was actually installed and secured, since I was already down to glass on a good swath below the upper side of the bracket and running out of contour options for seating the bracket.

I had been taking breaks throughout the day to help Guy Williams down at his hangar with his Long-EZ (also chit-chatting with other EAA members) and just after I finally got the left wingtip nav/strobe light installed, Guy arrived at my hangar.

Goal #2 for the day was to get the rudders installed into the winglets and working properly.

Guy helped me install the left rudder and ensure that it wasn’t binding internally and seated in place properly (after paint) in the closed position.

Guy then helped me remove the right rudder since it was not fully closing as it was binding internally and needed some judicious sanding … which I did.  We then re-installed the right rudder temporarily to test out that it was seating fully closed after the sanding, which it was.

We then pulled the rudder off again, attached the rudder cable to the hidden belhorn with clevis and cotter pin before installing it back into the winglet a final time.

I will note that the rudder return springs are NOT installed into either the left or right aft rudder pockets, as I have not connected them yet to the rudders since I want to 3D print some protective edge sleeves for both the rudder and winglet mating edges to ensure that the paint does not get chipped during the spring install onto the rudder side hook.  That task should be coming within the next few days.

After a good day’s work, Guy and I relaxed in my hangar BS’ing for a good bit as we watched the sun go down over the bay.  I will say that I’ve got an excellent view of the water from my hangar!

I then headed home to have dinner with Jess and called it a night.  My plan for tomorrow is to balance both the elevators and the ailerons to prep those for final install before I throw myself hot ‘n heavy into the final engine install.

Pressing forward!