Greetings!
In January I bought a wonderful fastback RV-4 from a guy in Kansas City. I'm very happy with it - in about four months I've put about 100 hours on it! It was finished in '08 and is built nicely. From what I hear the 4's did not have very good plans and building instructions making them more difficult to build than the rest. No offense to the builder at all, but the canopy was definitely not his strong point. It has always bugged me that (1) it takes a considerable slam to close it right, (2) it leaked like crazy until I put about 10 feet of weather stripping on it during this latest record-setting cold winter, and now, most importantly, (3) the bulkhead / cross-brace just aft of the roll bar and above the passenger's knees has separated from the longitudinal frame tube on the right side. After some time, I noticed recently that the only thing keeping the bulkhead attached is a single rivet (to the skirt) on the right side. Furthermore, there's now a crack in the paint on the outside where the rivet attaches. I have no building experience so I need some help deciding what to do with this problem. I believe I may have to remanufacture the bulkhead entirely since the present one appears too short by about a half an inch, causing this problem to begin with. Not sure if there are plans for this part, etc...
Or, considering the possibility of a complete canopy makeover, does anyone know who the canopy building expert in my area is? (Dallas/Ft Worth - Oklahoma City - moving to Tucson, AZ in August '16)
Here are some pics:
A closeup of the sole rivet holding the bulkhead to the skirt
The right side of the skirt from the outside:
Showing the crack:
In January I bought a wonderful fastback RV-4 from a guy in Kansas City. I'm very happy with it - in about four months I've put about 100 hours on it! It was finished in '08 and is built nicely. From what I hear the 4's did not have very good plans and building instructions making them more difficult to build than the rest. No offense to the builder at all, but the canopy was definitely not his strong point. It has always bugged me that (1) it takes a considerable slam to close it right, (2) it leaked like crazy until I put about 10 feet of weather stripping on it during this latest record-setting cold winter, and now, most importantly, (3) the bulkhead / cross-brace just aft of the roll bar and above the passenger's knees has separated from the longitudinal frame tube on the right side. After some time, I noticed recently that the only thing keeping the bulkhead attached is a single rivet (to the skirt) on the right side. Furthermore, there's now a crack in the paint on the outside where the rivet attaches. I have no building experience so I need some help deciding what to do with this problem. I believe I may have to remanufacture the bulkhead entirely since the present one appears too short by about a half an inch, causing this problem to begin with. Not sure if there are plans for this part, etc...
Or, considering the possibility of a complete canopy makeover, does anyone know who the canopy building expert in my area is? (Dallas/Ft Worth - Oklahoma City - moving to Tucson, AZ in August '16)
Here are some pics:
A closeup of the sole rivet holding the bulkhead to the skirt
The right side of the skirt from the outside:
Showing the crack: