2004-11-15
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The proseal turned into something resembling rubber so I guess that it's hardened. I removed the aluminum angle and the trailing edge was perfectly straight. SO now it's time to backrivet. I carefully placed a rivet in every hole (cleaning out the bits of proseal as I went)

Then I taped over the row of rivets with painter's tape. This is the real wide kind so I cut it down to size with an X-acto knife.

Then I flipped the whole thing over. I wanted to keep it on the mat which was about 1/4" thicker than the backriveting plate. So I stuck a piece if 1/4" plywood underneath and it raised the plate perfectly.

Then I got the trusty backriveter and I was all set. Actually, I was so concerned about doing this right that I called in the expert.

She's really quite good at this. She set them all a little more than halfway so that I could finish the job after flipping it over.

When she was finished I flipped it over and gave them an extra whack on the front. This set them all perfectly flush on the backside. I was pretty happy with the result.

Here it is, the finished rudder. (Oh, except for the hiem joints)

The instructions call out for some pretty close measurements on these. The bottom is 1 1/16, The middle is 59/64" and the top is 51/64"

I got them as close as I could. When I was finished, they were all aligned and I think that's the important thing.