Rolled the Canoe!

[smittysrv]

I've been waiting a long time for this. Thanks to my best buddy Norwood Story for his hard work and dedication in helping me rivet this dude together.



Here's my homemade flat sawhorse. It's made from an old piece of 1x12 shelfing and some 2x4s. It's 12 inches high. I hope that is an OK height. We'll see.



Here's my tail stiffleg. I was guessing when I made this dude before rolling the fuselage. The 2x4 on top was cut at an angle and has the inside scooped out to match the bottom of the fuselage so it won't slide off.

[RV9inIowa]

Smitty - you are gaining on me big time! I never actually rolled my canoe, since I built in right ways up from the start.

I left my fuse up high (on regular saw horses) until I had the aft top skins on. I liked it up high, so I could reach inside and rivet most of it myself. It was also easy for the firewall stuff I did.

When it came time to finish the tail skins, I had to climb inside and didn't want the fuse to be on the tall stands, mainly so my wife could comfortably rivet those last few rivets.

So I made a little homemade sawhorse for the front, and a study padded stand for the tail. I made the sawhorse so that the bottom of the step is 6" above the ground and the rear stand makes the fuse roughly level.

The height seems perfect for me now - and was good for working on fuel lines, brake lines, subpanel, etc. I'm hoping it will be right for the canopy.

No steps for you Smitty?

Here are my latest pics - like my panel design?

[cjensen]

Way to go Smitty!! That is one awesome feeling man!! Looks great!

[TomC]

Way to go! Thats a big day in the life of an RV. Now it really starts to take on its final appearance. I would think about putting some angle braces between the 2x4's on the stand under the wing spar. Just the engineer in me (we like gussets).

Good Luck!

[hydroguy2]

nice. 12" will be a good height for working over the side, but you'll want it a touch higher when wing attach time comes around.

Mine is 16" and works well when rolling around on a creeper under it, except my old eyes don't like things that close.

[Spike]

Sweet dude!

[smittysrv]

Thanks Guys!
I started doing some work this morning and I think I may shim up the sawhorse a little for more height.

[smithhb]

Way to go Smitty! It feel great, doesn't it? That is going to be one sweet flying airplane!

[BSwayze]

Great job, Smitty! I'm not too far behind you, and I'm looking forward to the big day, too. Way to go!

[RV7Factory]

Fantastic Smitty... I should be there soon too.

[captain_john]

Smitty,

Looking awesome man!!!

Dave,

I built mine mostly upright also. I did flip it occasionally to make some tasks easier. We are at roughly the same place now. I am making some good progress once again!

Bradley,

You keep pushing me along now, ok? Maybe I can catch up to Chadwick if I put some steam on this summer and keep working through the fall?!?

Ohhh, the life of an educator...

You guys are doing great! I hope my work doesn't pale so much in comparison!

CJ

[dons]

Great progress Smitty. Maybe build some small extensions that the legs can drop into, that way you can change the height easily for different tasks. Need it higher/lower, just lift it up and insert or remove a 12" extension, you could even put some cross braces in them (yeah I spend too much time on jigs).

[smittysrv]

Thanks for all the great comments guys! I posted my "canoe rolling" on the "other" website last week, but it didn't make it to the homepage. Weird huh? However, Checkoways departure from the world did.