Tip-up canopy to rear window gap?

Slagergren · #1 11-22-2010, 07:53 PM

Has anyone experienced or paid attention to just how tight the gap between a tip up canopy and the rear window on a RV7 can get to on a hot day (ie 100?F)?? I have made the gap to be just over the thickness of a credit card while working at 65?F. This puts me at or slightly larger than the gap listed on DWG 49 ( 1/32" or .03125 inches). I am about to have this area painted and thought I would chime in to see what others have experienced. Thanks again, Steve

gasman · #2 11-22-2010, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slagergren

Has anyone experienced or paid attention to just how tight the gap between a tip up canopy and the rear window on a RV7 can get to on a hot day (ie 100?F)?? I have made the gap to be just over the thickness of a credit card while working at 65?F. This puts me at or slightly larger than the gap listed on DWG 49 ( 1/32" or .03125 inches). I am about to have this area painted and thought I would chime in to see what others have experienced. Thanks again, Steve

I would do no less that 1/8". I was at Copperstate to ride in "OL BLUE". As I walked the line looking at RV's, there was a guy that was pinched out of his because the canopy had expanded in the closed position...........

Brantel · #3 11-23-2010, 07:12 AM

I would make the gap wider... These things expand like crazy when they get hot.

Mine has trapped me a couple times but it was not this gap that got me, it was the latch fingers.....

Once after landing in Charleston, SC it was about 100?F and I thought I was gonna cook before I could get the thing open. Lucky for me and my wife that I brougth along a screwdriver that I wedged in to pop the fingers open.

I imagine that if you make the front to rear gap too tight you might have the same problem or worse, it may crack one side or the other.

There is no real reason to make that gap so close.

az_gila · #4 11-23-2010, 09:14 AM

My RV-6 plans give a dimension of 1/4 inch for that gap.

1/32 sounds way too tight.

dhall_polo · #5 11-23-2010, 09:46 PM

Brandon reminded me of something I've been meaning to do but haven't done yet. I plan to replace the aluminum rod that goes from the handle to the latch with a steel rod.

One time my plane had been sitting closed in the hot Florida sun. It would not open. I used some force on the handle lever trying to work the latch free, and the dang aluminum rod bent. We tried running some water from a hose over the canopy and that was enough to make the difference. When I saw how bent the aluminum rod was, I was amazed I was able to get it open at all.

For me, it was not an issue with the gap between the halves of the canopy. (My gap is pretty tight, but not credit card tight, no rubbing.) The heat in the canopy changed the tolerances on the fit of the latch fingers and the catch.

Since then, I tend to leave the canopy open when I can. Thankfully, it hasn't happened since, but it sure scared me that I was going to have to resort to more desperate measures.

Slagergren · #6 11-23-2010, 10:06 PM

Thanks guys for the responses, pretty commical experiences, I can appreciate the situations and I will definately widen my gap. What I cant really understand is the drastic difference between an RV6 & 7 in gap measurement called out on the prints. I too thought 1/32 seemed really too tight but wow a 1/4" on the RV 6 seems too large. Given similar designs and materials it seems funny the two are not closer matched if not flipped around from some learning cuvre. Oh well Ill quit trying to over engineer this thing as usual and simply widen the gap be done with it. At the very least I need to make this gap just wider than a friend of mine so I can eliminate at least one of his "I told you so moments" while were at some sweaty ramp!