How far inboard to the RV-6 fuel vent ports need to be to clear the gear leg intersection fairings?
Three inches will do it. If you replace the bottom cowl hinge with .063 plate/screws/nutplates (recommended), the outermost one should be 3″ inboard as well. I’ve heard the cowl hinges are prone to breakage. How can I avoid this? This is indeed a problem on some RVs due to the high vibration in this area, It usually manifests itself as hinge eyes breaking off progressively from the ends. This is rarely a safety issue unless you let it go too far, but it is a pain in the neck regardless. If you have a flying plane and are experiencing a lot of hinge or fastener wear or breakage, the first thing to do is check the prop balance. Many RVers use harmonic balancers on their wood props with good results; metal/CS props can be dynamically balanced. All this costs money but it’s usually worth it in the long run. Beyond that, RV builders have used a wide variety of methods to prevent hinge breakage. One obvious solution is to just go with Camlocks or screws all the way around, but that has obvio
