Cats and Canopys?

[Bud K]

...or pigeons for that matter. How to you guys keep cats and birds from landing/roosting on your canopy and scratching it when parked in the hangar? Do you cover them with towels/blankets?

I have a barn cat that keeps the pack rats under control. She loves to climb on the cars and the side-by-side but hasn't (yet) climbed on my RV-4. I want to keep that from happening. Thought about putting blankets over the airplane and canopy but thought that it may actually draw draw them to it since it would give them more grip. Now, I just keep it uncovered.

What's the consensus?

 

[Pilot135pd]

I've always thrown a light bedsheet over the canopy more for dust than anything else. When I come to fly, a little dust on the plane will blow away once I get in the air but dust on the canopy I have to clean, so the bedsheet keeps that dust off the canopy.

Since the bedsheet is so light, if the cat tries to climb on it the bedsheet will slide off and there goes the cat with it. You'll just have to pick up the bedsheet from the floor a few times until the cat gets the message.

 

[RV7A Flyer]

I have a barn cat that keeps the pack rats under control. ...

What's the consensus?

Get a junkyard dog.

 

[plehrke]

Don’t use cats for rat/mouse/vole control. I have a few snakes that live in the walls of the hangar. Never had an issue with the snake climbing on my canopy.
Pigeons just require using some expanding foam to plug the holes.

 

[Pilot135pd]

...I have a few snakes that live in the walls of the hangar. Never had an issue with the snake climbing on my canopy...

You haven't had the problems YET ! Hopefully you don't find out when you're in the air and scream like Samuel L Jackson !!! Remember you don't have windows to open

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLaX8UvVUQw

 

[fl-mike]

Banquet tablecloths (polyester) make great dust covers.
They are available on-line and you can get sizes large enough to completely cover the wings, not quite long enough for the fuselage, at least where I shopped. Think I have a 10 footer and then a smaller one for the rest at the back. The polyester ones don't hold moisture.
Surprisingly cheap.

I feel ya. I parked my black Porsche outside one night. It was so waxed a cat slid off, but not before trying to get some purchase with his/her claws!

 

[edclee]

Parachute

I bought a 34 foot cargo parachute on Ebay for $109 I put it over the plane in the hanger to keep pollen, bird poop, and whatever off the entire plane. Mine is polished and EVERYTHING makes spots. I suspend the chute from two wires running overhead and small pulleys holding it up over about the center of the canopy and the trailing edge of the rudder. I slide it off the airplane and keep it stowed on the side of the hangar, then coming back I slide it back over the airplane, sliding the pulleys on the wires. Pictures if you want.
Ed

 

[ronrapp]

I toss a bedsheet over the canopy to keep dirt and dust off it. I'm probably going to do the same with the wings. I'd be great to cover the whole airplane, but it's not my top priority since it is in a hangar.

--Ron

 

[edclee]

Parachute

I bought a 34 foot cargo parachute on Ebay for $109 I put it over the plane in the hanger to keep pollen, bird poop, and whatever off the entire plane. Mine is polished and EVERYTHING makes spots. I suspend the chute from two wires running overhead and small pulleys holding it up over about the center of the canopy and the trailing edge of the rudder. I slide it off the airplane and keep it stowed on the side of the hangar, then coming back I slide it back over the airplane, sliding the pulleys on the wires. Pictures if you want.
Ed

I had no idea so many were interested in the parachute idea, so rather than answer each private message, I am posting pics of the whole thing here. They are maybe out of order so here is the general idea. I have two cables strung the width of the airplane in the hangar ceiling. You can also see that I have put plastic on the bottom of the trusses in the hangar. That is to catch condensation drops from coming off the bottom of the metal roof of the hangar. The two cables each have a pulley and a parachute cord tied to the pulley so they can roll along the cable. I have the parachute tied to these cords to support the whole canopy so I can simply drag the chute over the wings and the empennage. This keeps the bird poop and the huge about of pollen we have from nearby pine forests from getting on the plane. When the chute is removed it is hanging from the cords along the side wall of the hangar, off the floor. I have three short ties to hold the draping chute off the floor. To put it back over the plane when I get in, I drop the ties and simply pull the chute back over the plane.

 

[edclee]

Parachute

The parachute I used, I bought from EBAY. I just looked and one like this is considerably more expensive now. This parachute is a cargo chute and made from cotton fabric, not from the typical light nylon. I like it, but I see no reason the nylon one wont work well. This one is a 34 foot chute because I have a 9A and the wing alone is 28 feet and adding some drape for the canopy and fuse, meant that a 28 foot chute would not be wide enough. If you have a 4, 6, or 7, the 28 footer might work for you and is much cheaper and lighter.

I cut the excess material off so it did not fall all over the floor and fits tighter to the plane. My chute came with the risers and I cut them off. Now I have several hundred feet of parachute cord to tie things down at Home Built Camping!!!
Ed

 

[Blw2]

there's some funny irony buried in here some place.....

A while back I got a new car
I was looking into putting paint protection film on vulnerable areas.... then that rat hole of research leads to ceramic coatings to help it look good and to make it easier to clean.... ALL THIS after the factory and paint companies spend millions on researching coatings to withstand the environment, to look good, etc....
so have the paint protecting the car...then the film protecting the paint....then the coating protecting the film....


SO here, we put our planes in hangars to keep them put of the weather and away form the dirt and critters and save us from having to cover them...but that doesn't work so we cover them inside the hangars.

But then just me thinking it through worries about re-using the drop cloth or whatever to recover the plane when I get back form a flight, but might accidentally put the dirty side down....or put the clean side down on top of a dirty plane... either way trapping dirt between leading to potential scratches..... ugh...when does it end?

 

[Pilot135pd]

there's some funny irony buried in here some place.....

A while back I got a new car
I was looking into putting paint protection film on vulnerable areas.... then that rat hole of research leads to ceramic coatings to help it look good and to make it easier to clean.... ALL THIS after the factory and paint companies spend millions on researching coatings to withstand the environment, to look good, etc....
so have the paint protecting the car...then the film protecting the paint....then the coating protecting the film....


SO here, we put our planes in hangars to keep them put of the weather and away form the dirt and critters and save us from having to cover them...but that doesn't work so we cover them inside the hangars.

But then just me thinking it through worries about re-using the drop cloth or whatever to recover the plane when I get back form a flight, but might accidentally put the dirty side down....or put the clean side down on top of a dirty plane... either way trapping dirt between leading to potential scratches..... ugh...when does it end?

And on top of all of that you're in Florida so you have to worry about corrosion too !