A few canopy questions

[Hostage46]

Guys,

I was looking at Todd's canopy, why do folks go away from the standard van's fair? Is it attached differently?

His tinted canopy looks like a great source of UV protection, a) is that necessary? b) what about low vis, IFR/Night flying?

In the course of normal flying I presume you need some pretty decent sun block to deal with UV. What level of UV does the Van's canopy offer?

Dan

 

[tonyjohnson]

canopy

Dan,

Todds canopys are a bit thicker than the standard canopy. He has three types, clear (or perhaps just a hint of tint) medium tint, or dark. The dark is probably too much if you want to fly at night. I have the medium tint but I am not yet flying. BTW, I think that Todd is cheaper than Van and provides a better canopy. If you have not ordered your finish kit you might want to have Van leave the canopy out and buy one from Todd.

I do not know how much more UV the darker canopy keeps out, but it cannot hurt in that respect. In general, the simplified and misleading fact is that plexi is said to keep out about 98% of UV rays with what is considered by most to be the harmful range. If you search here you will find information on that topic under a thread related to gluing the canopy. I think it was CaptAvGas that posted that information. There are links to reseach on the topic of UV radiation.

 

[briand]

For ease of ordering I just went with Vans canopy. I am Pi@#ed that I forgot to "special order" the clear so I will get the standard tinted one. They don't have a spot on their order form, I guess you need to write them a letter or something with your order. I have no idea why clear wouldn't be standard, they must get a discount on tinted acrylic or something.

 

[Rick6a]

......I forgot to "special order" the clear so I will get the standard tinted one. They don't have a spot on their order form, I guess you need to write them a letter or something with your order.....

If they have not shipped your finish kit yet, why not just call them with your preference? In all likelyhood, you will be asked to put your request in writing and send it via mail or fax.

 

[J5Cub]

For ease of ordering I just went with Vans canopy. I am Pi@#ed that I forgot to "special order" the clear so I will get the standard tinted one. They don't have a spot on their order form, I guess you need to write them a letter or something with your order. I have no idea why clear wouldn't be standard, they must get a discount on tinted acrylic or something.

Just curious why you specifically wanted the clear. The kit I purchased came with the clear and I was thinking of ordering a Todd's tinted because I thought it would help with cockpit temps.

 

[cytoxin]

up til now

i have dealt with three canopys. mine was bulged at the right fronT where the foreward most screw goes. noticed this the day i got it but thught it was nothing. later realized when/ if it cracks this is where it will be. never could have gotten sikaflex to glue mine in even if i would have wanted to.
#2 is a 15 year old canopy that has some kind of circle's molded into it at the fwd edge on the vertical portion,that look as though it was sucked into a vaccum mold or something similar.
#3 is a new one that has a bulge on the right side at the 2 oclock posistion..
the first two finished out real nice and third will as well. but these things seem to be a little less than perfect out of the box. NOT A PROBLEM BUT IF THERE IS A NICER ONE FOR LESS THAN I'D GET IT.

 

[tonyjohnson]

canopy

I sold the one I got from Vans because I wanted a tinted one that I bought from Todd. I never took the Vans canopy out of the box except to help the guy who bought it put it in his truck. I assume that there was nothing wrong with it.

The one I got from Todd was perfect.

 

[szicree]

Not sure if it still applies, but I think Todd used to offer a guarantee against the builder cracking it. This seems like a pretty good deal if it still holds true.

 

[tonyjohnson]

offer

Steve,

Todd has withdrawn the offer to replace a canopy that the builder cracks. He did that in the beginning to get his business started when he was in his words "just some guy who said he could make a canopy".

He tell me however that if I cracked mine, he would make me "a really good deal" on a replacement. He also said that few of his canopies are cracked by builders.

I have found him very easy to deal with, reasonable prices, great product, and he delivers on time.

 

[macrafic]

Tinted Canopy from Van's

A while back (a year ago?), I contacted Van's about order a canopy with MORE tint than their standard. I was told that could be done for an extra charge (assuming they knew about it when the finish kit was ordered). I don't remember what the charge was, but thought it was reasonable.

I know the original post here was for a clear canopy, but a number of responses indiceated a desire for more tinting. Contact Van's and see if this can still be done.

 

[BlackRV7]

A while back (a year ago?), I contacted Van's about order a canopy with MORE tint than their standard. I was told that could be done for an extra charge (assuming they knew about it when the finish kit was ordered). I don't remember what the charge was, but thought it was reasonable.

The company who does (I believe they still do) Van's canopies is just out of Dayton Ohio. I went to their facility to pick my special order tinted canopy up instead of having it shipped. Van's will give you their phone number. They ended up sending me several samples of various colors for me to pick from. Very easy people to work with.