My take on tinting the canopy....
So I've been trying to figure out how to block the glare when flying my RV9A. I've got the sliding Kroger shade, and while it's nice I can't say that I like it alot. It flaps when the canopy is open while taxing, and it blocks alot of the view. I read most of the threads on here about tinting canopies, and decided to give it a try. I bought a roll of tint off Amazon for $35 - the 35% VLT static cling. I first tried a long strip down the length of the canopy as the video above shows. I started at the top adjacent to the center bar. No good. My strip was 12" wide and the complex curves made it frustrating at best. This stuff won't stretch even with heat. Next I turned it and put it across the rear of the canopy. This was better, less curves to work with, but I've still got some bubbles and wrinkles. In one photo you can see the rear tinted strip across the back of the canopy. This is nice, as we travel with a 55lb boxer that rides in the back - I wanted to give her some shade back there at least.... But I didn't think another strip would work out nearly as well as I wanted.
I looked at the JetShades, and they look nice but for $800 I wanted to find an alternative.
I think I did...
I found you can purchase tinted Acrylic sheets. Only I couldnt find anything thinner than 0.090". Home Depot carries them. But they're heavier than I wanted. Neither Home Depot or Lowes carried any sheets thinner than 0.080 in clear or tinted.
Theres another thread on here where someone put static tint on plexi sheet and then put them inside the canopy. I already had the static so why not try it?
Hobby Lobby has 1mm thickness plexi in 24x36" sheets. The best part is they are $4.99 each! I bought two of them, trimmed one corner off so they fold into the top of the canopy almost perfectly, and the bow of the plastic holds them in place. Zero headspace lost at the top, minimal at the sides. My tint was 24" wide so it was easy to put the static cling on the flat plexiglass. Trim the ends with a razor and voila', instant sun screens! I might have $50 in the pair. Easy enough to add another layer of tint on the other side if something darker was desired. You can see where the plexi overlays the prior tint what 2 layers will look like. No idea how well they'll hold up to any heat in the cockpit, but I'm quite pleased. I'll probably put my Kroger sunshade back in place since I have it, but it may not stay if not necessary. My plane is hangared and I use a canopy cover when parked outside for any length of time....
I think it'd look better to find a large enough piece of plexi to cover the entire inside of the canopy. I may do that in the future.
