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-   -   Warning: Suction cup mounts may damage your canopy during prolonged uses (https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=142749)

AX-O 10-14-2016 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SampsonSurgical (Post 1118830)
Was your suction cup black?

Yes (extra words).

Bevan 10-14-2016 03:47 PM

Can you put the suction cup on the opposite side directly over the dimple, then add some heat with a heat gun from the inside to neutralize it?

Bevan

BillL 10-14-2016 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bevan (Post 1118842)
Can you put the suction cup on the opposite side directly over the dimple, then add some heat with a heat gun from the inside to neutralize it?

Bevan

Where is it? A casting of flox resin in a similar area could create a good "mold". then it could be attached with suction and the area heated. The drawback might be a nib at the point of suction. A nib could be polished out though.

Thanks for the warning! Good luck with any attempted repair.

rightrudder 10-14-2016 10:07 PM

I had the suction cups themselves melt enough to curl up and become useless. They were on a radar detector mount in a black Infiniti Q45 (black interior too) in Tucson, with an ambient temp of 118 F. It probably got up to 160 in the car!!

SHIPCHIEF 10-15-2016 10:23 PM

I vote that you do nothing and wait. I think that the dimples will eventually fade away.
Any proactive measure could go awry and cause permanent damage? :confused:
I saw your RV-4 at Reno. Very nice. The prop was very interesting too.
Congrats on the Rookie of the Year award!
My first year at Reno, this could be habit forming. I see that being a spectator has limits. It seems best to be associated with a plane.

skylor 10-16-2016 01:13 AM

Comparison
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by AX-O (Post 1118839)
Yes (extra words).

Hey Axel,


Just as a point of comparison, I also had one of my GoPro cameras suction cupped to the side of my canopy for the entire Reno "week". I have the older GoPro mount with the clear/translucent suction cup. My canopy was mostly uncovered during the daytime and we only covered it up late in the afternoon every day. I took a good look at my canopy today, and I could detect no deformation where the mount had been located. I made sure to view it with good lighting casting a "glare" on the canopy and there is definitely no deformation. So either the black suction cup contributed to your issue or the RV-4 has a thinner canopy than the -8. Or both.

Hopefully with time and some temperature cycles, yours will relax back to the original shape.

Skylor

AX-O 10-16-2016 09:02 AM

Thanks for checking. I dont have a vans canopy. Mine came from Todd. It is also the clear type. No tint.

Kyle Boatright 10-16-2016 09:07 AM

I wonder if your problem was heat related or plasticizer related. Plasticizer is the component in soft rubbery plastics that keeps them soft. It can eat or soften other plastics if the two materials are in contact.

That's what used to happen with plastic fishing worms and tackle boxes before the tackle box manufacturers figured out the chemistry.


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