Help with Ward tipper kit install on RV-7

[Tango Mike]

I'm a non-builder in the middle of installing the Ward tipper kit, and I've encountered some sticky issues with positioning the support strut guide.

Experienced help is close by (30-45 minutes by car), but no one has installed this kit on any RV.

I'm going to contact John, but it would be helpful to bounce ideas off someone other than the kit designer who has been there and done that.

If anyone is willing to assist, maybe we could communicate via PM or email to avoid cluttering the forum with a topic that might be of limited interest to the majority of users?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Tosh

[noelf]

I installed a tipper kit on a friends -7 some years ago. There are at least two different suppliers out there and I don't know which he had. I did not like the way the support rod proped open the aft end of the canopy, so ended up making a different support rod that attached to the exposed threaded rod of the slider canopy turtle deck track (upper baggage bulkhead area), and for the other end of the support rod used a spring clamp with bent grip fingers to grab and hold onto the rear canopy guide block. This worked better than the kits solution.

[Tango Mike]

I'm leaning toward a solution like yours without a guide tube for stowing the strut.

It would be a strip attached to the rear bulkhead (and flat, so my nice leather upholstery doesn't have to be modified), that extends up to just below the fuselage skin overhang, angles to parallel it, then angles again to present an attachment point for the bottom end of the strut that is perpendicular to it.

The strut supplied with this kit has #8-32 threaded ends. The upper end has a a positive twist-to-lock action that connects to the slider-block, and the other end could rest on the top of the support with a thumbscrew inserted from below to secure it.

A work in progress, to be sure, but what isn't with airplanes?

Thanks again,

Tosh