Today's Message Index:
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1. 06:14 PM - Canopy Skirt Buzz... (Matt Dralle)
2. 08:15 PM - Re: Canopy Skirt Buzz... (Bret Smith)
Message 1
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| Subject: | Canopy Skirt Buzz... |
Hello Listers,
After the very first flight on the RV-8, I discovered that the fiberglass skirts
around the canopy loved to buzz against the turtle deck skin at anything over
about 100mph. To soften the intersection between the skirt and the skin I added
a row of Velcro-brand "loops" tape all the way around the base of the canopy
skirt on the inside including around the bottom of the windscreen so that
when the canopy was closed any skin to skirt areas were cushioned with a thickness
of the Velcro.
That worked great and totally eliminated the buzzing and also sealed up the cabin
nicely. I was pleased.
But, after a Summer in California and 112 hours of flying, the Velcro just didn't
hold up. In the Summer sun, the glue became gooey and the tape slipped out
of position along the curve behind the passenger and looked like grandma's slip
was showing. Along the extreme rear where the skirts come together and the
fit is pretty tight, the glue squeezed out from the heat and kind of goo-ed all
around on the metal.
So, I removed the skirts a couple of weekends ago and literally spend a whole weekend
removing the Velcro and all of the glue. I was lucky and the in the process
I didn't remove any of the textured paint on the skirts or windscreen frame
- whew, that was a scary two days.
This weekend I finally got to take her out for a flight after the oil cooler replacement
(all went fine, btw) and try out the new "tape-less" installation.
Holy COW!! It was SOOOOOO noisy! At 200mph I took the headphones off and couldn't
believe the DB level. I really couldn't stand the noise level with the headphone
ON, and without then it just plain hurt. I slowed down to about 150mph
and the noise decreased slightly, but not that much. I slowed down to a stall
and finally the buzzing stopped, but as soon as I pushed the nose over and
speeded up a little it started again.
Obviously I'm going to have to put something like the Velco back on the inside
of the canopy frame. But what? I'm guessing that all RV-8's must have this issue.
I surprised there isn't something in the plans to deal with it. Is there
some magic tape/insulator that people are using for this that will hold up
in the heat of the Summer sun?
Thanks in advance!
-
Matt Dralle
RV-8 #82880 N998RV
http://www.mattsrv8.com - Matt's RV-8 Construction Blog
http://www.youtube.com/MattsRV8 - Matt's RV-8 HDTV YouTube Channel
Status: 112+ Hours Total Time Since May 2 2010 Test Flight!
Message 2
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| Subject: | Canopy Skirt Buzz... |
Matt,
I bought some .75" wide UHMW tape from McMaster Carr. It is available in a
number of widths and thicknesses and applied it to the inside of the canopy
where it slides along the fuselage skins. It cuts down on the airflow and
does not scratch the paint. This is on an RV-9a slider so I'm not sure if
it would work for you in the -8.
Bret Smith
RV-9A N16BL
Blue Ridge, GA
www.FlightInnovations.com
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-rv-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-rv-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Matt Dralle
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 9:12 PM
Subject: RV-List: Canopy Skirt Buzz...
Hello Listers,
After the very first flight on the RV-8, I discovered that the fiberglass
skirts around the canopy loved to buzz against the turtle deck skin at
anything over about 100mph. To soften the intersection between the skirt
and the skin I added a row of Velcro-brand "loops" tape all the way around
the base of the canopy skirt on the inside including around the bottom of
the windscreen so that when the canopy was closed any skin to skirt areas
were cushioned with a thickness of the Velcro.
That worked great and totally eliminated the buzzing and also sealed up the
cabin nicely. I was pleased.
But, after a Summer in California and 112 hours of flying, the Velcro just
didn't hold up. In the Summer sun, the glue became gooey and the tape
slipped out of position along the curve behind the passenger and looked like
grandma's slip was showing. Along the extreme rear where the skirts come
together and the fit is pretty tight, the glue squeezed out from the heat
and kind of goo-ed all around on the metal.
So, I removed the skirts a couple of weekends ago and literally spend a
whole weekend removing the Velcro and all of the glue. I was lucky and the
in the process I didn't remove any of the textured paint on the skirts or
windscreen frame - whew, that was a scary two days.
This weekend I finally got to take her out for a flight after the oil cooler
replacement (all went fine, btw) and try out the new "tape-less"
installation.
Holy COW!! It was SOOOOOO noisy! At 200mph I took the headphones off and
couldn't believe the DB level. I really couldn't stand the noise level with
the headphone ON, and without then it just plain hurt. I slowed down to
about 150mph and the noise decreased slightly, but not that much. I slowed
down to a stall and finally the buzzing stopped, but as soon as I pushed the
nose over and speeded up a little it started again.
Obviously I'm going to have to put something like the Velco back on the
inside of the canopy frame. But what? I'm guessing that all RV-8's must
have this issue. I surprised there isn't something in the plans to deal
with it. Is there some magic tape/insulator that people are using for this
that will hold up in the heat of the Summer sun?
Thanks in advance!
-
Matt Dralle
RV-8 #82880 N998RV
http://www.mattsrv8.com - Matt's RV-8 Construction Blog
http://www.youtube.com/MattsRV8 - Matt's RV-8 HDTV YouTube Channel
Status: 112+ Hours Total Time Since May 2 2010 Test Flight!
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