This is out for everyone's thoughts. I contacted M&M Fiberglass concerning some issues that I had with my Pink cowl for my 9A. I originally had the green cowl sent by Van's but it was the wrong one and Van's, the best service in the world, sent me a new correct Pink cowl for my 9A at no cost, and paid for shipping both ways. Obviously I had both the green and pink cowls, raw, side by side, and was able to to make some comparisons between the two first hand. Some very noticable differences between the two were obvious. Van's had M&M contact me, which they did, and I in turn responded to M&M's inquiry. This is the response I received from M&M:
Good Morning Mike:
My name is Jessica, I actually run the prepreg department in which your cowling was made.
I apologize for the delay in getting back to you regarding your issues with one of our cowlings.
I will need some further information from you on the cowl, but let me address the issues I can given the information I have.
#1 ) When you say the oil door was much smaller, are we talking about depth or size from foam to foam? I will need to know what your door measures to get any farther with this.
#2) I will need to see pictures of the lower aft edge you are talking about, Have you trimmed your cowl yet?
#3 &4) I will need pictures and measurements of the problem areas, it could be that there is more overlap on the second cowl than on the first, and that is giving you the appearance of thinness or excessive thickness.
#5) The material used to make your cowl is prepreg, it is a pre-impregnated epoxy material, it is vacuumed down to 27" and cured, What you are saying is the result of the material rising away from the mold surface is a possibility a very, very slim one. I would like to see pictures of this. Please send me pictures of the corners that are damaged, this will be something I will need to bring up with our finishing department.
#6) Again, with prepreg, the material is already saturated with the resin and hardener, so any imperfections in the saturation cannot be from poor lay up, I would like to see the size of the dry areas you are talking about, this will give me a better idea of where to start the troubleshooting.
I have no doubt that the two cowls you received had several differences between them, partially due to the two different resin systems used to make them, our current system is actually superior to the old. I do know that the employee who layed-up your cowl has had over 4 years experience, so I have no doubt in the workmanship that went into your cowl. I regret that you weren't totally satisfied with your product, please send us pictures and measurements of the cowl so we can troubleshoot what happened, correct this issue and prevent it from happening again. If this cowling is as poor as described.
Sincerely,
Jessica Sacher
M&W Fiberglass, Inc
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Humphrey <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Sent: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 6:23 am
Subject: Re: cowl
Mike,
Sorry for the long delay to your email, but holidays, work schedule, etc. prevented me from getting back to you sooner.
Sticker on inside of top cowl says #0162 Van's 235 cowl-1.
Problems as explained to Scott were:
1.Oil cooler door area much smaller than green cowl.
2.Side re-inforcement strips not laid straight, sharp angle to lower aft edge.
3.Nose bowl lay up dry and thin on port inside air intake,
heavy and thick on starboard inside of air intake.
4.Front of nose bowl the same
5.Lots of dry corners. No or very little cab-o-sil or ballons placed in corners prior to lay up of cloth so when popped from mold corners not well made due to cloth raising away from mold.
6.Quite a few dry spots on outter surface of cowl-not wetted properly during lay up, resulting in 'divits' in surface.
The reason that I raised the issue with Scott was that I had a 'green' cowl originally shipped from Van's(the wrong one for my engine I might add), so comparing the two side by side showed a marked difference between them. The 'green' cowl was far superior in quality as an end product. I really wish that the 'green' cowl had fit-it would have been my first choice to use.
Not bashing your product-just wanted to let you know that whoever laid it up was in a hurry by the looks of the end result, and I'm sure that the resulting poor quality is not your normal product.
Sincerely,
Mike Humphrey
Just wanted to see what your thoughts on the subject are concerning the new Pink cowl.
Mike H 9A/8A
Good Morning Mike:
My name is Jessica, I actually run the prepreg department in which your cowling was made.
I apologize for the delay in getting back to you regarding your issues with one of our cowlings.
I will need some further information from you on the cowl, but let me address the issues I can given the information I have.
#1 ) When you say the oil door was much smaller, are we talking about depth or size from foam to foam? I will need to know what your door measures to get any farther with this.
#2) I will need to see pictures of the lower aft edge you are talking about, Have you trimmed your cowl yet?
#3 &4) I will need pictures and measurements of the problem areas, it could be that there is more overlap on the second cowl than on the first, and that is giving you the appearance of thinness or excessive thickness.
#5) The material used to make your cowl is prepreg, it is a pre-impregnated epoxy material, it is vacuumed down to 27" and cured, What you are saying is the result of the material rising away from the mold surface is a possibility a very, very slim one. I would like to see pictures of this. Please send me pictures of the corners that are damaged, this will be something I will need to bring up with our finishing department.
#6) Again, with prepreg, the material is already saturated with the resin and hardener, so any imperfections in the saturation cannot be from poor lay up, I would like to see the size of the dry areas you are talking about, this will give me a better idea of where to start the troubleshooting.
I have no doubt that the two cowls you received had several differences between them, partially due to the two different resin systems used to make them, our current system is actually superior to the old. I do know that the employee who layed-up your cowl has had over 4 years experience, so I have no doubt in the workmanship that went into your cowl. I regret that you weren't totally satisfied with your product, please send us pictures and measurements of the cowl so we can troubleshoot what happened, correct this issue and prevent it from happening again. If this cowling is as poor as described.
Sincerely,
Jessica Sacher
M&W Fiberglass, Inc
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Humphrey <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Sent: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 6:23 am
Subject: Re: cowl
Mike,
Sorry for the long delay to your email, but holidays, work schedule, etc. prevented me from getting back to you sooner.
Sticker on inside of top cowl says #0162 Van's 235 cowl-1.
Problems as explained to Scott were:
1.Oil cooler door area much smaller than green cowl.
2.Side re-inforcement strips not laid straight, sharp angle to lower aft edge.
3.Nose bowl lay up dry and thin on port inside air intake,
heavy and thick on starboard inside of air intake.
4.Front of nose bowl the same
5.Lots of dry corners. No or very little cab-o-sil or ballons placed in corners prior to lay up of cloth so when popped from mold corners not well made due to cloth raising away from mold.
6.Quite a few dry spots on outter surface of cowl-not wetted properly during lay up, resulting in 'divits' in surface.
The reason that I raised the issue with Scott was that I had a 'green' cowl originally shipped from Van's(the wrong one for my engine I might add), so comparing the two side by side showed a marked difference between them. The 'green' cowl was far superior in quality as an end product. I really wish that the 'green' cowl had fit-it would have been my first choice to use.
Not bashing your product-just wanted to let you know that whoever laid it up was in a hurry by the looks of the end result, and I'm sure that the resulting poor quality is not your normal product.
Sincerely,
Mike Humphrey
Just wanted to see what your thoughts on the subject are concerning the new Pink cowl.
Mike H 9A/8A
