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garrys

Active Member
My 7A Slider is about 2 years old now, with 250 hours on her. I'm beginning to notice rust forming where the front canopy bow (steel) attaches to the little wheel that slides the canopy fore and aft. What I'm thinking is that water is getting into the inside of the bow through the pop rivet holes that hold the plexi canopy to the bow. Has anyone experienced this? What did you do?

Garry Stout, Tampa FL
 
canopy bow rust

Yes, my 3 year-old slider is starting to 'blow' the paint off the bow. At first I thought it was fatigue cracks, but it seems the rivets are wicking in moisture from the fabric cover for a long time after the rain has passed.
No doubt the rust will become a structural issue before long, so I am not pleased with that.
for now, I've covered the rivets with a strip of adhesive vinyl graphic material that effectively 'seals' them.
Long term, I'll have to remove the canopy, strip the paint off the bow, sandblast, powder-coat or whatever it takes.
yippee!

how come after 100+ years we didn't even think of coating the inside with linseed oil???? ( LPS etc.)
 
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Jeff Vaughan said:
Perry thanks for the easy solution to keep the water out.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure the rust is necessarily coming from water wicking by the rivets. I have a sika canopy (no holes/rivets) and I have a bit of rust running out by the roller. I suspect the rust is entirely caused by condensation inside the bow - someday I'll spray some etching paint down the inside that tube.
 
Rust of any kind on my plane really bothers me. Eventually it will have to become a structural issue, right? I think I'll try to put a dab of marine silicone into each of the rivet holes, and see if that helps. Yes, I wish I had thought of coating the inside with linseed oil.

Garry
 
garrys said:
Rust of any kind on my plane really bothers me. Eventually it will have to become a structural issue, right? I think I'll try to put a dab of marine silicone into each of the rivet holes, and see if that helps. Yes, I wish I had thought of coating the inside with linseed oil.

Garry
Click to expand...
Any reason you can't take the canopy off, remove the roller brackets and pour some linseed oil in? I'll be doing this unless there's a good reason not to. (?)
 
Good idea. I've never had any experience with the linseed oil. Will it clean out the old rust and keep new rust from forming?
 
garrys said:
Good idea. I've never had any experience with the linseed oil. Will it clean out the old rust and keep new rust from forming?
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No, it won't get rid of the existing rust (that ship has already sailed), but it should stop, or very significantly slow down, any new rust from forming. Linseed oil is commonly used on tube and fabric airplanes to prevent rust. Vans also recommends it on their steel parts (at least the engine mount).

Beyond that, I too would make sure that you eliminate the other possible source of water: the pulled rivet heads. Dabbing some epoxy or proseal over each of the stems of the pulled rivets should take care of this if, in fact, leakage is occurring there.

Good luck.
 
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