Hi,
I am going through a Comanche 250 I recently acquired, looking for problems and also as a cleaning and lubrication process. The main cabin floorboard in this plane, the one forward of the main spar and continues up to the flap handle, has been secured with pop rivets. The only easy access to this large part of the belly is the removable rectangular panel which exposes the landing gear motor, transmission, and control rods, and the fuel valve. Other than that panel the only other access is 4 small oval access panels, 2 on each side in-between the seat rails. Is it normal for this large floorboard to be riveted down or was there originally screws used as the fasteners for this panel ?
Thanks,
Brian
Comanche 31P
Pacer 26D

Hi Brian,

Not sure about 250's, but my 260 as well as a friends '69 pa 30 have threaded screws with nut plates below to fasten the floor boards. There are also some machine screws but not many. As I recall there is a panel under each front seat extending from the feet area to behind the seat into which the inspection ports you mention are placed.

I rather doubt that piper would pop rivet those panels down.

Good luck, Don

It is my understanding that the earliest models did indeed have the floorboards riveted in place, leaving only the access panels you describe.

For complete inspection and maintenance. I would recommend that the rivets be drilled out, #8 nutplates installed, and the floor re-installed with AN 525-832R6 screws (both available from Spruce).

Thanks, that is good to hear that this came that way from Lock Haven. My first thought was there was damage from a previous gear up under there that was sort of put out of site out of mine by the rivets. I agree this area should be looked at on occasion and should have screws and platenuts, however with all the stuff this plane needs, I will probably defer this till another time.

Second question for you folks, I am improving the battery box and cables with new Bogart replacements. I would really like to clean up, prime, and paint the batter box shelf and radio shelf behind the baggage area in the process. Has anyone had any experience with removal and reinstall of these two shelves ? They both appear to be riveted in place.

Thanks again,
Brian

The battery box itself should easily unbolt. You will probably want to bead blast it, check for corrosion, and repaint with battery box paint from Spruce. The best solvent for this paint is Xylene, should decide to spray.

Don't know about the shelves. They probably don't come out. What many radio shops do is to fabricate a separate mounting plate with stiffeners, and mount the avionics to the plate, and then the plate to the shelf.

Clean the shelves with acetone, mask off all other areas, and spray a good aviation primer (activated). You might try to buy a quart kit from a paint shop.

Be careful on that prop, Brian. I've found 2 hot mags, in the hangar during the last 3 mos.

 

Consider removing the floorboards if you are replacing the battery cable from the battery to the firewall. When I removed my floorboards, I found that the cable was not secured properly from a previous cable upgrade and was chaffing against one of the bulkheads NOT GOOD! Also check the bulkheads for cracks where the seat rails attach. Mine were cracked.Also consider running a remote cable for the 406 ELT if you dont already have one. My floorboad was riveted in so I installed nutplates and screws for future inspections.