Good morning builders.

Another 750STOL scratch-building-head-scratcher.

I see in my plans that there is a gap above the floor skin between the heel support channel (on the left in pic) and the pedal bearing channel (on the right):

Is there any reason this gap needs to be there?  I don't see anything in the plans that says that the gap needs to be there for other stuff and to my way of thinking it will just be a place to gather dirt, dropped pens, travel snacks debris on long trips etc.

What I am thinking of doing is widening the heel support channel to overlap the rear flange of the pedal support bearing with his eliminate the gap, then riveting both flanges together (green stars):

Can anyone see a reason NOT to do this?  Nothing changes at the cabin sides, the connection there stays as  it is.  Alternatively I could rivet a cover over the gap, but I think my idea is much more elegant.  There is no interference with the Nyoil pedal support blocks or other things in the pedal support channel.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

JR