Once the airplane is rolled over, the top strake to spar join is made by filling the recess between with micro and covering with two BID.

Then the Outboard and rear bulkheads can have their top to strake skin bonds laid up.

Also, while the plane was upside down we made a repair to the pilot side strake. We realized once we closed it that we had neglected to apply Jeffco to the top skin in the compartment nearest the fuselage (This is easily seen in the first picture of section 14.4.2). To add this, we drilled a 5″ hole through the inner skin of the fuselage and pulled the skin off. Then we drilled a 4 1/2″ hole all of the way through, and bonded the skin back onto this ‘plug’. The top skin in this repair compartment was then cleaned up, and Jeffcoed. When it all looked good, the foam was sealed up with micro and the plug replaced, and 4 BID into the opening. Sadly, we didn’t take many pictures of this, but here is the finished repair.

Once this is complete, the rear strake-to-spar bulkheads can be fitted and installed.

While the plane is upside down we take care of the strake to fuselage radius, to get a nice smooth arc. Next we pressure tested the fuel tanks, and found that the copilot side had a leak down the leading edge. This was sanded back to the outboard bulkhead, and light vacuum (from the Shopvac onto the fuel cap) pulled a batch of Jeffco and Cabosil into the leak until it was sealed. Then the leading edge was recovered in BID.

Finally the rear fuel bulkhead-to-spar bulkheads were glassed in.