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Reinforce VS top rib for conduit?

tims88

Well Known Member
I'm considering installing conduit in my vertical stabilizer to run a cable through it to power a camera. I did email Van's about this since it will require drilling a hole in the top rib of the VS and was told to maintain standard edge distance and don't make a hole any larger than I need.

If I go through with this and drill a hole in the top rib of the VS, probably 3/4 inch to 13/16 max, should I make some kind of a doubler to reinforce the rib? And if so, any suggestions on how thick the doubler should be and how many/where to put the rivets?
 
My VOR antenna solution. I'm not sure your camera specs or how you will mount it, but I'm guessing it will be in the forward fairing. No reinforcement necessary. However, does it really need to be that big? If it's the connector, consider assembling it after the cable is run. Especially, avoid the solder-type DB connectors in favor of the crimped-pin type. That way your conduit only needs to be large enough to accommodate the bundle of pins instead of a large connector body. My conduit was bigger than it needed to be but the last rib only has a hole large enough to accept a coax connector.
 
Thanks Patrick. I was assuming I would use a Garmin Virb or GoPro but I've got such a long time until I'm finished that I'll wait and see what is available then.

You're probably right that the conduit doesn't need to be that big. I was just planning to use the 5/8" conduit Van's sells and in their wing wiring diagram they say the hole can be up to 3/4" for that conduit, although I've been told 13/16" is easier to get it through which is the only reason I was considering going that large.

If I can find something else to use that is narrower then I will definitely use it.
 
Copied for ant

Patrick,

so I pretty much copied your idea (or at least 80% of it) for the VOR antennae. I was surprised how little info was out there regarding mounting an antenna up top. Everyone else seems to be mounting them below. The only big difference I did was fashion standoffs out of .025 aluminum and riveted them to the front spar. Thanks for having your pictures online because it helped tremendously!
 
You're welcome. Some of my ideas are good, some are 'not so good'. ;) I hope it evens out.
 
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