CHAPTER 47 - Baggage Compartment

After beginning work on the aft structure, I discovered that the rear baggage bulkhead would need to be stiffer so I began working on the interior. I started by roughly trimming and laying the baggage floors in place and using them to mark the bend line on the aft baggage sides. Thus marked, the aft sides could be drilled into place and then the floors could follow suit. Finally, the forward baggage sides could be bent and fitted. The first photo shows the left side at this stage. Notice that I am largely using #40 clecos; this allows me some adjustment before final drilling to #30.

The next photo shows the initial fitting of the lower baggage panel. It was trimmed to fit between the aft sides and notched at the top to fit within the bulkhead. Again, it is drilled undersize for final drilling later. After the photo was taken, the vertical rib was fabricated and then installed, which greatly stiffened up the bulkhead and allowed the aft structure to be completed.

Returning to the forward structure, the seat floors were trimmed and fitted and drilled at the rear to complete the baggage floor drilling. Then the flap actuator was positioned and drilled in place. With the flap actuator temporarily bolted in place, the forward side panels were trimmed to fit around it and reinstalled as shown in the last photo.

My next steps will be to install the remainder of the seat floors, the seat backs, and the flap mechanism. I'm expecting it to take a little while and hopefully the weather will warm enough to permit easy priming so that I can final drill and permanently rivet the aft structure and those non-removable interior pieces. As always, I post on the Matronics RV-List when I make an update, so stay tuned.