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Can the Canopy Skirt be Attached to Canopy with Sikaflex Without Any Canopy Holes?

bacstabber

Well Known Member
Friend
I am starting my attachment of the canopy skirt to the frame and the canopy. I am in the conceptualizing phase, the part where I try to visualize the process and generally tend to over think the process. I usually find out after I get started that thing just tend to become much clearer once you get started.
I have already glued my canopy to the frame with Sikaflex. I have no problems with drilling some holes in the frame itself to hold the skirts in place temporarily but I really don't want to put any holes into the glued canopy. I have seen where some have used a few holes strategically drilled in the canopy to hold the top of the skirt tight during fitting and gluing. If this is what most recommend from their experience, then I would be reluctantly willing to do this also. What I am really interested in knowing is whether pressure needs to be applied to the skirt after gluing. If the fit against the canopy is good with the clecos holding the skirt to the frame, is this all that is needed to get a good contact and bond at the canopy? How is the aft part of the skirts held against the canopy after gluing to get good adhesion without the use of clecos? I was thinking Ziplock bags with sand in them my be enough pressure. Thoughts and comments welcomed.
 
Hi Jack,
This is what I did. I drilled through the canopy in a few places and used clecos to hold it in place while the Sika cured. I used the same holes to attach the skirt. Work well. Nice even glue joint. No cracks and hasn't blown off yet (130 hrs.)
Cheers,
John
N819WB



End result:

img0977cr.jpg

By n819wb
 
Holes just to hold

I did the same, I had 7 holes in my canopy for gluing of the canopy, I used clecos in the same holes to hold the skirt for fitting and gluing. Once glued these holes where filled when doing the final finish on the skirt.

You can see one of the holes here after it was glued

2ngslr8.jpg


Holes all filled!

6sf7g5.jpg
 
I sure do hope so because I just glued mine about 2 hours ago! I will know more tomorrow. I say go for it, that stuff is awsome!

-david
 
No need for holes

Please see my post in the duplicate thread. Somehow, you got two of the same thread started :confused:

Maybe a moderator can merge them?
 
I used resin and flock to bond the shirt to the plexi and then used sikaflex to bond to the canopy frame. I had some holes in the shirt to install cleco's to hold it in place. The resin and flock allowed me to sand and get a very nice edge transition from skirt to canopy.
 
Thank you for your reply.

I want to thank everyone for their reply. I started my skirts adjustments today and I fairly well pleased with the progress. The sides look like they will glue easily and hopefully once I get the aft end corrected, it too will fit good enough to easily adhere with sikaflex.
 
How did this hold up.

I used resin and flock to bond the shirt to the plexi and then used sikaflex to bond to the canopy frame. I had some holes in the shirt to install cleco's to hold it in place. The resin and flock allowed me to sand and get a very nice edge transition from skirt to canopy.

Curious how this has held up, if you are already flying. I considered this but decided against the flox since I did not think it would flex enough when the canopy plexi expanded and contracted. The beauty of the Sika is that it gives when other parts start to move.

Flox would have made the joint between the canopy and the skirt easier to finish that is fur sure. I spent hours with a heat gun getting the waves out of the top edge of the skirt.

Cheers
 
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