Yes, cut the covering away chord length of span and glass. I would go out past where it meets the fuse. When ever we build a plane we do this. I found out the hard way that I should have done that with this plane also. I have read in several post's this problem with several ARF's. Even though the Ryan has plywood ribs where you join the wing and plywood joiners, it is not strong enough for the size of the plane. I will forever more glass the center section of an ARF if I do another one.