Tipup Canopy Fwd Skin Tab

[sglynn]

I'm about to finish the tipup canopy frame and can't decide what to do about the two side tabs on the canopy frame forward skin. Drawing says to trim it to match side skin. But what exactly is best way to trim this? Some posts here say, "I did it Checkoway's method", but that is no longer available so I don't know what he did.

My concern is that the tab sticks up pretty high and there is not a rivet or screw in this tab to hold it down. And unless there is a rivet or screw it will vibrate and crack any fiberglass that goes over it.

I will at least trim the tab to match the side skin height. But how low should I go in trimming it on the front edge? If I have fiberglass going up the canopy an (1) inch, should I trim this tab to be down below that and cover it with fiberglass?

I'm also thinking it needs to be trimmed to within 5/16 of an existing bolt or rivet so that no edge curls out or vibrates to much.

Anybody have some good photos of options I could look at? I've seen a few on the RV-7 logs, but need to see some other options.

I'm also thinking of drilling one more forward hole thru this tab, canopy and into the frame and putting one of those "canopy pulled rivets" in to hold the tab down then fiberglass over it.

thanks for your ideas and suggestions

 

[sglynn]

Proseal as glue on canopy

Will Proseal work as a glue to hold the these left and right skin tabs down against the canopy? Or is there a better glue for this one small spot? I don't want to glue the whole thing. I just want to either cut off these fwd skin flaps/tab or glue them against the canopy so they don't wiggle.

Here is a link to a photo of the area I need help with.

 

[Stevea]

Oh yea, that #$%^&*! part of the tip-up canopy frame, where the canopy wants to go from on top of the forward skin to under it.

I ended up cutting off the forward skin "tab" to a line below the canopy edge. This eliminated point loading of the forward skin aluminum on the canopy edge. The area gets covered by the fiberglass fairing. My fairing also covers the first couple of inches of the side skin.

 

[Bugsy]

Chopp them

Just finished my tipup, its done, glued and screwed.

My only regret is not having chopped off those tabs. I used Dan Checkaways method by opening the cutout. Now that the canopy is done the tabs stick out. I glassed them over smooth but I still wish I had chopped them off. They serve no structural purpose with all the glue and screws that I have in the canopy.

 

[John Courte]

I cut mine off too. You wind up using more filler, but you can get a pretty decent shape blending between the front fillet/fairing and the side skirt. I used flox to fill the void left by cutting off the tab, then the usual fiberglass layers over that.

 

[dhall_polo]

I didn't cut it off, but I don't see a problem with that. You have to remove material in sort of teardrop shape until the canopy can sit in the track and transition to the front without interference. Then you can bend or shape the tab until it's flat on the canopy.

I sikaflex'd the canopy, and there's sikaflex under that tab. I think getting that area ready for paint requires filling and sanding no matter how you go.