side-skirt gasket

[prkaye]

Has anybody tried gluing a rubber gasket of some kind to the lower edge of the slider side-skirts? Just seems like a place that could get drafty...

[petehowell]

Hi Paul,

On my -9a, this area is negative pressure - It really sucks air out of the cockpit. I don't notice the draft and I think it is good to have some air circulation in the cockpit.

I have not tried to seal it, and have not found it to be an issue, even in cold flying conditions.

[Bob Axsom]

If you are talking about a slider then Yes I have. If you have a tip up it is a different problem and I have not even looked at it. I spent many many months looking at this and studying it before I came up with my fix. The bottom of the skirt is not the answer because the relative angle to the canopy deck deck is not zero throughout the travel of the canopy. there are no two surfaces on the canopy side skirt and fuselage that meet this requirement so you can't simply bridge the gap with rubber in the closed position and have it hold up to use in flight and ground operations. So what you have to do is create workable parallel surfaces at the side skirt and fuselage interface. I have provided the information in great detail and provide photographs in the past but I don't know of anyone that has implemented my idea besides me so this time I'll just give the concept and perhaps getting your mind around that may turn on your own mental light bulb.

There is one existing surface on each sde that remains parallel with the canopy opening and closing travel and that is the extrusion mounted on the canopy deck for the rollers to travel in. The outer surface is convex vertically and perfectly straight fore & aft. A rib can be sawed out of 3/16 aluminum bar stock that can be double flush riveted to the side skirt approximately 1/2" above the bottom of the skirt. Rubber can be glued to the bottom of the rib and that extends horizontally beyond the edge of the rib to contact the roller guide extrusion. Nothing gets pinched as the canopy changes angle during the opening and closing travel and the canopy skirt is stiffened to the point that there is no "suck out" of the skirts in flight. I have been flying with this system for four years and it works perfectly with no sign of wear.

There are several other things I have done to completely seal the canopy like riveting turned up parts made from 1/16" aluminum angle to provide a closure surface behind the end of the roller guides instead of the ugly rear skirt skag incorporated in the stock RV-6 slider canopy skirt design but this is all you are thinking about for now.

Bob Axsom