The flow chart said to mount the instrument panel. This seems a bit premature, but hopefully the person that wrote the manual knows what they’re doing. (turns out they didn’t)

The instrument panel is supposed to be 21″ aft of the canard bulkhead (That’s the bulkhead that the rudder pedals are mounted to). To make sure I get the right location, I marked a couple 3/4″ x pieces of wood and clamped them to the canard bulkhead. This will give me the right distance.

Then I tried to put the panel in. Tried is the operative word. It’s made oversized so I have to trim it to fit. Which means put it in as far as possible and mark where it binds, pull it out, trim and repeat. And repeat, and repeat.

 Once I got the panel to fit in the correct location, I applied duct tape to the back edges. I then applied a 2 BID layup on the left, right and bottom middle of the panel and let it cure overnight. In the morning, I drilled holes through the panel where the layups were.

New mounting tabs.

Panel temporarily held in place with clecos.

Here’s what I learned much later:  The panel didn’t have to get installed now. It could have (and should) have waited until much later.  Had I waited, I would have mounted it farther aft.  As it is now, with the seat in the position where I would be flying from, it’s a decent reach to get to the panel.