Canopy Latch Replacement RV-6

Hey Y'all!
Have to redo the Slider Canopy Latch on my new (to me) RV-6 (some nosy nellie broke the old one off first night she was home, not realizing canopy was in fact locked). I'm curious as to why builder would have trimmed the previous latch to such a "dainty" thinness? I haven't yet tried to fit the new one, but is there something forward of the pin that would drive the need for this? She's 20 years old, and obviously some fatigue in the thin latch hook was also at play.

Smak

normal... sort of

It is normal to need to trim the latch to get it to overcenter properly. However, I maybe had to trim mine by 3/16" or so.

If the canopy frame isn't getting into close (almost) contact with the windscreen frame, then the latch needs more trimming. There must be something blocking your canopy from moving as far forward as it should.

So it looks like Handle on canopy section was installed too far aft. This caused the hook/lever arm to require excess trimming to reach and over center on the pin. 20 years of metal fatigue and voila…here i am. Will trim the excess leaving just a little more meat on the bone and fine tune the installation with some hand tools.
Shouldn’t be too arduous a process.