Opinions requested - Piano Hinge vs Skybolt

[Larryskydives]

I have an RV6 with the piano hinge on the cowling. On the upper cowl by the firewall, I have a couple of ears have broken off the hinge. I do like the smooth, sleek fit of the hinge but it can be a pain sometime.

Options are to replace the hinge, or section of the hinge which will require drilling out rivets and riveting new hinge.

I have purchased the V-Lock mounting plates for the skybolts fasteners.

Do I just replace a section of hinge?

Or do I drill out all of the rivets for the hinge on both firewall and cowling and install the skybolt fasteners?

How difficult is it make the skybolt fasteners line up, and will the upper cowling need any reinforcement where fasteners will be located?

Not sure which way I want to go!

[BillL]

It is not difficult to make them line up, just choose the spacing.

No reinforcement is needed on the cowling, but a spacer strip may be needed under the v-loc's to match the thickness of the cowl edge.

Here is how I got them to align without being risky, and resulted in tight grommets.

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...hlight=skybolt

Should you do it? I can't help you there.

[Kyle Boatright]

Another option is about ten #6 screws, evenly spaced across the top. I've used that setup for 16 years and 1,000+ hours with no evident wear or slop.

Skybolt and Camlock fasteners are expensive. Still, I'm considering them for the cowl/firewall junction on the -10 because I don't want to mess with that many screws.

[Dean Pichon]

After I started loosing eyelets on my-4, I replaced the hinge sections along the firewall with Skybolt fasteners. I reasoned that the steeply curved hinge sections were more susceptible to failure. I replaced the hinge sections between the upper and lower cowl halves with new hinge. For the replacement hinge stock, I used extruded hinge (in lieu of rolled) and used slightly wider material to give me more bonding area.

The Skybolt fasteners have held up really well as have the new hinges. It's quite easy to install the hinge pins in the long (and straight) hinge sections. The project took a few weeks (given my limited time to work) and required that I repaint the cowl, but it was due anyway...

Good luck,

[David Paule]

Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright

Another option is about ten #6 screws, evenly spaced across the top. I've used that setup for 16 years and 1,000+ hours with no evident wear or slop....

While they hold up well, they're a bit of a pain sometimes. My certified airplane has screws holding the cowl on, and my RV-3B will have hinges or the Mil-Spec quarter-turn fasteners. I'm tired of dealing with the darn screws.

Dave
Cessna 180 flying
RV-3B now on the fuselage