Catalina canopy

6 posts in this topic

Posted

Does anyone know who built the Catalina canopy? I checked with LP Aero and they didn’t make it.They said if I had an old one they could use it, but the kit I got is missing it.

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Posted (edited)

From the pics I can see online it looks like the canopy is flat wrapped around a steel tube frame with a fiberglass "skull cap".  As long as you've got that steel frame you shouldn't have a problem. Just glue some foam blocks together and carve and sand it to get the cap, then fiberglass it and wrap the lexan sheet around the frame. 

Edited by Willja67

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Posted

One of the most difficult parts of the canopy for me was getting the paper off of the lexaxn after 25 years. I later replaced the side window with thicker lexan to cut down on interior noise.

 

 

 

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Posted

Thanks for the pictures I have the frame and fiberglass top. I assumed the plastic was preformed. It must be pretty thin? Do you know the thickness?

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Posted

It'll be a few days before I can go out and measure, but I do know that I'd like it to be a bit thicker, as it has a tendency to deflect inward at higher speeds.

The pic stretched out with the wood braces was an attempt to straighten the lexan- it had one heckuva curl after all those years. 

It may be a week before I can measure, but I'd recommend going with the next size up- it'll still bend to conform, and what I have probably sets the "VNE".  I once asked why the VNE was set where it was, and the answer, from Mr. Wilson, was a "I didn't think anyone would want to fly it faster than that".  I did build mine with the leading edge fairings, and the upper leading edge skins (which I'll never do again, oil canning is a problem), and I've been adding fairings to anything that was round.. The catalina gets a bit less balanced as you go beyond the published vne, which I can hit easily--- 100 HP hirth F30, 3 bladed warp prop.  No issue getting off the water at gross.

$.02

Jack

N92KL

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Posted

That took more than a week!  Mine was 1/16", .062.  I replaced the back side windows with 1/8", in an effort to cut down on interior noise. Lexan bends better than Plexi.

 

Sorry for the delay,

 

-Jack

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