Tail ribs- varnish before or after install?

[flypdx]

I see that some builders have varnished the tail ribs prior to install... and some after they have been epoxied in place.

Is one method preferred or suggested?

[Dorsal]

I prefer bonding to bare wood as I believe I get a better bond, then I varnish the parts.

[Dave S]

As dorsal - I bonded the ribs first - epoxy varnished second. I think Dorsal's choice agrees with having the minimum layers of stuff between the ribs and metal - reducing the number of potential de-lamination surfaces/layers - i.e. metal to hysol to wood as opposed to metal to hysol to varnish to wood. Keep it simple - keep it safe. And - that is kind of in agreement with the build manual.

Now - having said that - do I think it is possible to do the varnish first - certainly - just be sure that the wood surface is prepped correctly before the varnish is applied and the varnish is prepped correctly before the rib is hysoled into the structure. Another point - the ribs in the tail are basically not structural - they simply define the airfoil shape and as such have little stress on them in the first place. Wings - that is a different deal.


Sincerely,

Dave S.

[flypdx]

Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and installed the ribs and I'll varnish later.