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Longer Tip-up Canopy Side Skirts?

TX7A

TX7A

Well Known Member
I've muddled through the threads looking for opinions / thoughts on this but haven't found much. I know some T/U builders have added longer canopy skirts to hide the seam between the fuse and canopy.

The edge of my forward canopy skin fits "fair" to the fuse side skin at this point. I wish I could get it better though. I'm at the stage where planning for extended side skirts would need to be done and would like some feedback on this.

Did you make longer canopy side skirts? If so, any specifics or "gotcha's"

Did you build to plans and then wish you had longer canopy side skirts?

Pics would be nice.
 
Canopy Side Skirts

I went through this a few months ago. I just used the side skirt aluminum sheet provided in the kit and I do have the little flat triangular gap. I'm not that worried about it and can live with it. But I think you could avoid having the gap if the side skirt sheet was longer or maybe wider. Then you would have enough material to trim it so it covered the gap.
 
'Wider' skirts..

Thanks, Bill.
Guess I should have been a bit more clear. What I should have said was "wider"; as in extending down below the deck surface....to hide the joint.

Sam
 
Entended Canopy Skirt

I am not sure if this is what you are after but I extended my canopy skirt forward to get rid of the triangular gap. I originally used the standard length but decided to extend it.

canopy-skirt.jpg
 
I'd consider going with "taller" & overlapping side skirts next time. Caveats would be paint thickness and making sure you provide enough clearance between the skirt & the side of the fuselage.
 
anyone done this?

dan said:
I'd consider going with "taller" & overlapping side skirts next time. Caveats would be paint thickness and making sure you provide enough clearance between the skirt & the side of the fuselage.
Click to expand...


I'd sure like to hear from someone who's done this..
 
I have done this on several RV tip ups. I use the standard skirt as per plans and cut per plans. I then extend the skirts down about 3/4 of an inch with carbon fiber. I use a couple of layers of it. I use two inch wide strips. It extends from about 2 inches aft of the canopy right to the front of the forward skin. I also put a couple of layers around the canopy at the aft edge from one side over the top to the other side, forming an overlap. It helps guide the canopy closed also. It really stiffens the canopy up. When lifting it up from one side the opposite side hardly flexes at all, not like the ones with out it. It is a lot of extra work but I think and those that I have built for sure like it.
 
Below is my similar question by email to Van's and Gus's reply!


It won't work well. The skins are almost certain to get bent because
the canopy frame is not rigid, and they will hit the longerons as they
come down. If it does work, it will remove the paint from the fuse
side where they overlap.

Gus

On 5 Feb 06, at 19:41, Jim Sharkey wrote:

> Gus,
>
> I am building the tip up canopy frame for my RV6 and was wondering if
> it would be a good idea to position the frame side members to allow
> the C-603 skins and lower edges of the forward canopy skin to extend
> down over the edge of the fuselage when the canopy is closed. This
> would then hide the gap and should provide a better seal - at least to
> falling rain when parked.
>
> Any advice on the pros and cons of this option?
>
> Jim Sharkey
 
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