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Canopy Hole

Subwaybob

Well Known Member
I have a free canopy hole I am offering. You have to pay shipping from Texas. As you can see I have two and clearly only need one. If you are in need of a hole and you have not made your yet then this one will work perfect. There is one caveat: It ONLY fits the RV7 slider.

Canopy.jpg
 
Ventilation Mod

It gets hot in the Big D...it's for, uh, ventilation. Yeah, that's the ticket!!
 
Aaayyy Carumba!

Looks like a good night to get drunk and mumble incoherent phrases before spending money.
 
I hate to say it, but it looks just like the one I own already. i plan to stika my canopy and will fill the hole (the frame will cover the inside) and put a nice looking plate on the outside that will also serve to protect the area under the latch handle.
 
The plans call for a cover strip on the top exterior that should just cover that hole. I would plan on doing something to try to plug it, maybe cut a circle from some scrap canopy material and sika it in place? If you're careful with it only you (and the entire Vans Air Force now!!) will know it's there when you're done! :D

Here's a timely tip for you that I found almost too late - very shortly in the instruction set you'll be told to countersink the canopy holes, then open them up to 5/32" and deburr the inside. There is no comment on leaving any of those holes at #40 mentioned - but a page later where it talks about the aft skirts, there it says not to enlarge the holes in the canopy that contact the aft bow until after you use a #40 strap duplicator (hole finder) to transfer those holes to the aft skirts. If you don't read the entire section before building (and have a pornographic memory) this will trip you up. Best bet is to leave all those holes at #40 until you are absolutely forced to enlarge them.
 
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What's wierd is I actually didn't get that upset. Maybe because it's right in line with the other one and I'm going to cover it with an aluminum strip. I thought about cutting out a roung plug out of spare plexi. Mix that and some proseal, cover with aluminum and voila! Two holes but only one drips water!! Maybe one day I'll get an itch and replace it but for now...
 
Here's a timely tip for you that I found almost too late - very shortly in the instruction set you'll be told to countersink the canopy holes, then open them up to 5/32" and deburr the inside. There is no comment on leaving any of those holes at #40 mentioned - but a page later where it talks about the aft skirts, there it says not to enlarge the holes in the canopy that contact the aft bow until after you use a #40 strap duplicator (hole finder) to transfer those holes to the aft skirts. If you don't read the entire section before building (and have a pornographic memory) this will trip you up. Best bet is to leave all those holes at #40 until you are absolutely forced to enlarge them.

Thanks Greg! I have a habit of just doing stuff as I read. BTW I "THINK" it's a PHOTOgraphic not a PORNOgraphic memory... What instructions have you been reading? :p
 
Thanks Greg! I have a habit of just doing stuff as I read. BTW I "THINK" it's a PHOTOgraphic not a PORNOgraphic memory... What instructions have you been reading? :p

To each their own! :p

We still haven't heard the story of how the extra hole came into being - time to 'fess up!
 
How it happened...

We still haven't heard the story of how the extra hole came into being - time to 'fess up!

Oh well that's real simple. Canopy frame didn't fit real well in canopy anywhere. Slide fwd and back spine doesn't touch. Slide back and the fwd canopy frame that touches the roll bar doesn't touch. Call Vans and they say "Split the difference". So that's what I did. Cut the thing, drilled the hole. Flip it over and put it back on the frame on the RV and there was half an inch space on the fwd frame. Ohhhhh, that's not gonna work... Called Vans back. This time I got "Don't worry about the spine, fit the front and back". Well HOLY SMOKES!! I initally was told to go for a "general fit". This did not work. They broke down and told me I did not HAVE to rivet the spine, or I could rivet the the part that touches (the front). It's not really their fault. I kinda blame the canopy people, engineer who made the instructions, Partain for bringing me the kit, Anne for taking my order... I'm probably leaving someone out but I will blame them later. :D

My problem is that it all fits together so well when it doesn't, I botch something. Needless to say this has made me slow down just a little. After this is a 30K engine and 27K worth of G3X, GTN 650, etc, etc... Think I'll slow waaaaaaay down!
 
I talked to Vans once about the frame fit to the canopy, and got the general impression that there's (usually) not much you can do to get a perfect fit of the plexi to the frame bow fore and aft, you are looking for the closest fit on the top spine. The canopy will be pulled down to the frame and will have some spring force trying to "open" the frame, that's why you have to pre-load the frame by making it 1/2" narrower than the slide rails without the canopy on it. Once the canopy is on the frame it will pull the frame into the correct alignment (or close to it).

I know on mine right now (and I am just fitting the side skirts, canopy still clecoed to frame) if I only have the spine clecoed the sides of the canopy are as much as an inch and a half away from the frame at some points, but it doesn't really take much force to get them to contact the frame. That's just the natural spring of the heat-formed plexi, you can't get rid of that.
 
I started my slider canopy this last weekend and I could not make the math add up. If I got the side rails 1/16" from the fuse side then the rear bow would be about a half inch below the turtle deck and it is suposed to be 1/16". This meant that if the sides were correct, I couldn't even open the canopy frame without it hitting the F-7112 turtle deck. I made my first call to Van's. I was only a little supprised to hear "shim it" and "cut it". I think this must be the first part of the project (pre-punch) that is like that. Everything else fits perfect.
Their recommendation to cut made sense. If you trim F-7112 bac a little then it gets narrower. I haven't drilled my second latch hole yet but I am right behind you.
 
I started my slider canopy this last weekend and I could not make the math add up. If I got the side rails 1/16" from the fuse side then the rear bow would be about a half inch below the turtle deck and it is suposed to be 1/16". This meant that if the sides were correct, I couldn't even open the canopy frame without it hitting the F-7112 turtle deck. I made my first call to Van's. I was only a little supprised to hear "shim it" and "cut it". I think this must be the first part of the project (pre-punch) that is like that. Everything else fits perfect.
Their recommendation to cut made sense. If you trim F-7112 bac a little then it gets narrower. I haven't drilled my second latch hole yet but I am right behind you.

I ran into that same issue yesterday afternoon. On my left side the frame just *barely* catches the forward edge of the 7112, and just *barely* clears it on the right. I'm sure I'll end up trimming a bit off that location to achieve the fit, or grinding down a bit of the weld material on that joint of the frame. Could be just a high spot there.
 
The plans call for a cover strip on the top exterior that should just cover that hole. I would plan on doing something to try to plug it, maybe cut a circle from some scrap canopy material and sika it in place? If you're careful with it only you (and the entire Vans Air Force now!!) will know it's there when you're done! :D

FWIW - I drilled an extra hole in my canopy also. I fit the spline perfectly with the canopy upside down on the table, but didn't clamp the sides of the canopy to the frame during the fit. This changes the profile of the spline curve considerably and the result was the hole about 2-3" too far back.

My Fix - I put a piece of packing tape across the hole and filled it with West Systems Epoxy. The epoxy cures slightly yellower than the canopy, but it seems less obtrusive than the darker sika or proseal option. You can't see the hole from the outside due to the cap strip, but it's easily visible from inside the cockpit. The epoxy has held solid for 4 years and 800hrs.
 
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