I finished match-drilling the left wing skins over the last week. I ran out of #40 clecos and was delayed a bit while some new ones arrived from Avery. I didn’t realize how crappy my old ClekoLok clecos were until I bought the WedgeLok clecos that Avery sells…quite an improvement.

While the left wing box was still together, I installed the SafeAir pitot mast. This is a relatively easy process if you take your time when trimming the hole in the skin that will accept the mast.

The first step is placing the mounting template on the lower skin, just outboard of the most outboard inspection hole. One thing to be aware of here is that the recommended mast location is right next to a rib. After discussing the mounting process with John Sannizzaro, who turned me on to the SafeAir mast, I moved it outboard one rivet to provide some more room for riveting and pitot plumbing. After the template was in place, I traced the outline of the mast hole onto the skin and used a unibit to drill some starter holes inside the outline Here’s the template in place – sorry for the crappy picture, but you get the idea.

Pitot mast template in place

Enlarging and shaping the hole took some time and patience; I started with a side-cutting bit in the Dremel, and finished up with a fine needle file. After the hole was done I fitted the mast inside, marked the forward rivet holes, then removed it and final-drilled the holes to #40.

Pitot mast template in place

With the forward holes clecoed in place, I marked and drilled the rear rivet holes per the directions. Here’s the end result…the installation looks great!

Pitot mast template in place