3 blade prop and cowl removal

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Builders/flyers,
Any of you flying RV-10 guys with a 3 blade prop know the issues of lower cowl removal and reinstallation. Has anyone come up with a great solution to minimizing the damage to the prop as the cowl is lowered.

We currently lower the cowl then rotate it slightly to drop under the pax. side blade then slowly lower it further. This is now possible because there is no nose GEAR fairing installed. This does not seem to be the long term solution for ease of maintenance.

Under consideration is making the entire air filter inlet removable...

Please share any brilliant ideas.

RV-10 N10HW soon to be airborne.

Chuck Wilson

 

[pierre smith]

Removable panel

Hi Chuck,
A friend of mine is building a -10 and asked this question a coupla months ago. He now has a removable panel that goes from behind the intake back to the rear. He rivetted a lip on the inside of the cowl and installed camloks so that section is removed first, giving you all sorts of room.

Regards,

 

[Rick S.]

My slot extends up towards the intake and stops 4.25" from the inlet. I put pipe insulaton, the round spilt kind on the edges of the prop held on with rubberbands to protect the prop edges...YOU REALLY NEED TO DO THAT. I have not finished them but I am going to use a .032 alumininum sheet plate to cover the slot, held on with nutplates. Deems Davis has some pics of his plate on his web page. With the longer slot the cowl can slip down and out of the way of the prop but you need to be careful sliding it past the blades.

 

[weeav8ter]

three bladed prop and cowl removal

I have a Aerocomposite 3 bladed prop and I had to really elongate the slot under the cowling to be able to get the cowling off. I made a cover plate for this opening that I use with nut plates and screws to attach it.

When I take off my cowling I put masking type tape on the gear leg fairing so it doesn't get bunged up from the cowling and I had blade covers made for my prop so they don't get bunged up.

To be truthful it's not the easiest task getting the cowling off but once I did it a couple of times, and cussed a lot, I've kind of got it down now where it's not real bad. I have to lift the back of the cowling up to allow lowering the cowling forward to go down the gear leg and clear the prop blades.

I would attach a photo of my prop covers that I had made but I don't know how. If you would like to see the photo of them e-mail me and I'll send it to you. Trust me they are worth it.

Wayne Edgerton
N602WT