Big day has finally arrived as brother-in-law, good friend, and myself went out to remove the wings from the aircraft. It will be so nice not to have to duck under the wings anymore. It took about two hours to get them off and move the fuselage to the side of the workspace. I had forgotten to cut the strake along the bottom on the pilot�s side so work had to stop while I took the dremel tool and separated the strake from the spar.

The next day I found that the arrangement of the wing and fuselage was just not going to work well, so with the help of two other people I moved them so I can easily get around the wings and into the fuselage. Next, I found that I had locked the co-pilots side door and now had no way into the fuselage so I guess it is time to cut the strake in order to get the pilots side door open. I just had one small problem. I had glassed the inside from the front tip of the strake all the way back to the rear of the fuselage opening. Now I was in a quandary as I could not get the pilot or co-pilots doors open.

With help from Steve Dammann, the hangar owner, I managed to lift up on the locking pin from the canard opening while he opened the door. Once inside I used the dremel tool again to cut through the fiberglass on the pilot�s side and now I was able to open both doors. Sure looks nice as it has been almost a year since both doors were open.

11/11/2013   Picture 408