Fuel Tanks

I have been working on the fuel tanks. The Pro-seal is about to expire, so have been a mad man trying to get the tanks together.
Everything went per plans, but did some things that made it easier. Since I am doing both wings at the same time, the tooling and jigs get setup and taken down only once, so things go quick.

I made a template and verified the tank leading edge shape matched the outboard leading edge. The left wing I nailed perfectly, but the right I had to disassembly the ribs and tweak slightly. I also made the end ribs of the tank fit the curve of the skin as near perfect as possible to minimize the gap the Pro-seal has to fill in.

For the tank brackets I made a wood jig to hold the brackets and get the middle hole centered. Of course, all the brackets came from the factory exactly same length, except for two.Oh well.

The brackets are installed on the baffle and the line centered in the baffle holes. Then the remaining holes are drilled using the baffle as the drill guide. I found out that the baffle is not symmetrical; there is a top and bottom. In addition, the baffle flange orientation is mirrored on the right, but not shown explicitly on the plans, leading to additional confusion. You are warned.
After the brackets are drilled to the baffle they are installed on the tank, and the tank is installed on the wing for match drilling to the spar. There were several gotchas:
1) The baffle has a top and bottom, the prepunched holes are not symmetrical top to bottom.
2) The distance from the baffle to the spar is too close for clecos near the root. If I tried to use clecos to hold the tank skin to the baffle, the baffle and wing tank did not sit on the wing properly.
3) others have dimpled the baffle rivet holes; I don't see how this would work on the RV9 since there is not enough clearance; I think the baffle rivet holes need to be countersunk per the plans.

After the brackets are match drilled to the spar, the riv-nuts are installed. I used a bolt and nut to drill the brackets for the rivets as in the pic. (The hole in the wood is for the nut to rest in.)

The rest went as per plans, nothing special. Prior to priming, I edge rolled the seams very slightly using my thumb technique. Not sure if this is needed, but I do not want any of the skins lifting off the spar and I could not find anyone on line who regretted doing this.

Lastly, I primed in prep for final assembly. The plans say only the bracket needs to be primed, but my minimum amount to mix easily is 50 ml.  Not wanting to waste any, I primed the outside of the skins where they will rest on the spar and splice plate, and I primed the outside of the two end ribs, and the backside of the baffle. I am thinking the tanks may sweat when full of fuel, so I figure it wouldn't hurt to prime the outside that is exposed.

With all this work, I think I am ready for final assembly of the tanks. Hope I have enough clecos ;-)