G

-goose

Well Known Member
Hi everyone,

I've been given a second hand set of Vans cushions for my -7 which I'm having re-upholstered. The original vinyl has various bits of Velcro on them, most of which have come un-glued and left a generally sticky mess. I'm reluctant to go down the same route with Velcro - can anyone suggest a good method of securing them into the aircraft?
 
Nothing...

I was going to Velcro my seats down but realized that my big 'ol butt seems to do a good job of holding them in place. When there is an empty seat, I buckle the harness.
 
N941WR said:
I was going to Velcro my seats down but realized that my big 'ol butt seems to do a good job of holding them in place. When there is an empty seat, I buckle the harness.
Click to expand...

My thoughts on this are simple, where will those cushions be if I happen to get upside down one day.
 
Walt said:
My thoughts on this are simple, where will those cushions be if I happen to get upside down one day.
Click to expand...

Above me, between my butt and the seat pan. Besides they will be easy to remove and use for protection when knocking out the remnants of the canopy.

Not only that but my seat bottom is made up of three pieces so I can tailor the seat height to my passenger. (Wedge, 1" slice, and main seat cushion.)
 
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Assuming at some point you remove the seat belt.... you will be sitting on the canopy now with very limited space to move, the seat cushions will likely become more of an obstacle for you to deal with rather than a pillow.
 
Here is the trick to using Velcro easily and successfully:

1) Obtain Velcro in wide and narrow widths.
2) Stitch the narrow pieces to your seats vertically.
3) Glue (or use self adhesive type Velcro) the wide Velcro to the plane horizontally.

The perpendicular overlaps make it easy to install and adjust the placement of the cushions.

The wide Velcro is unlikely to come undone and move around simply due to the large surface area.

I've had good results this way, even in the hot summer heat when the adhesives like to "ooze" a bit.

BTW, don't try to sew through self adhesive Velcro. You'll just break needles and learn new cuss words. Use the sew-on Velcro for this task.
 
I found some Velcro at Home Depot labeled "Industrial Strength".
Not flying yet to test it in the plane, but I did use it on our outdoor patio furniture to keep the cushions on and it has worked for the past year.
Its also holding my outdoor thermometer to the brick wall outside for the same length of time.
 
If anyone is interested, to avoid the ooze, I've been using JB Weld for an application that needs high heat resistance. It's pretty sticky, 3800 psi tensile strength and good to 550 degrees. Haven't tried it on velcro but will. May not stick well to plastic? I did use packing tape for release.... Maybe rough up the velcro back with 60 grit like I did on the epoxy that did stick but oozed...
 
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