More Bulkhead Work:
My first attempts at cutting out some metal to weld to the top side of the bulkhead failed.
In the end I had to make the bits I needed in stages, starting with drilling two holes in some metal like so.
Most of the smaller piece was then cut away to leave me just this.
Which filled in the gap around the tube nicely.
The second one required more cutting and shaping until it looked like this.
And even then, it was only going to fit if I welded & hammered as I went along.
Eventually I had sealed the tubes in from the top side like so.
This was a very awkward area to work in, but at least the mounting bolts fit.
Admittedly, not as neatly as I was hoping for, but at this stage I'm not complaining.
To be honest, even getting to this standard of finish was a bit of a challenge for me.
After a final tidy up of the welding, I applied Kurust to both sides.
I'd also cleaned up the edges on both sides where the cross brace had been & treated them too.
Waiting for that to dry allowed me to get on with some other stuff.
However, I was able to come back later to get spray some etch primer on.
I also did the edges where the cross brace used to be.
You can see the primer has run a bit, but if you look very closely you will also see the first drops of rain too.
Thankfully I was able to get the cover over the bulkhead without touching the wet paint.
Next Bulkhead Steps:
- Add fibreglass filler over the crush tube welding to smooth it out a bit.
- Then cover the filler with primer and paint.
Although I think the weather will be against me for the next few days, but we'll see.
The really good news is that, after all this time, the bulkhead is very close to being finished.
Take care, Paul.
