Rio Creek Airport

Next, we focused on the fuselage work.  We ordered the rib that needed to be replaced in the horizontal stabilizer from an Ercoupe salvage yard.  We also cleaned out a mice nest from one of the walkway boxes.  That cleanup included treating the area and covering it with primer as well.

Back in the hangar at RCA, Don works on the horizontal stabilizer.

We also had to take everything out of the interior.  That included seats, windows, floorboards, seatbelts and everything else imaginable.

Taking advantage of the missing window...makes it easier to run some of the wiring.

In the late-70's, the area right next to the runway flooded at RCA.  This coupe and another were tied down in that area and the water actually rose over the wings!  When we took everything out of the interior, there was still some of the silt-like dirt in the belly.  We spent quite a bit of time in there with rags and a Shop-Vac.

The interior with the seat and the rear floorboards removed.

Lyle Humlicek and his grandson Shawn helped us replace some rivets and other parts.  We had to get a different right aileron because the one on ours was corroded.  We found one from a fellow Ercoupe owner in Illinois.

Shawn checks out the belly of the coupe.