---------------------------------------------------------- RV8-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Sat 10/30/10: 1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 06:14 PM - Canopy Skirt Buzz... (Matt Dralle) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 06:14:55 PM PST US From: Matt Dralle Subject: RV8-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! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message rv8-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/RV8-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/rv8-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/rv8-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.