RV-7 N890GF

Today I installed the side skirts to the canopy. I began by completely prepping the surfaces of both the skirts and the canopy/canopy frame. Since I bonded the canopy to the frame with SikaFlex, I also am bonding the side skirts to the canopy. This requires following the same steps as before: activator, primer, glue.

Once I had all the surfaces prepped, I applied the activator and then waited the required 10 minutes. then I primed both surfaces and waited 30 minutes. I then applied a generous amount of glue and spread it out, then I clecoed the skirts in place. I needed to add a clamp to the top corners on either side, to get the skirt to sit right against the canopy.

While things were setting up, I also decided to wire up a tail-mounted forward-looking camera. Years ago I added wiring provisions for adding a tail-mounted camera, but did not know what I would do in the long run. I decided to mount a wide angle mini camera to the top of the vertical stabilizer.

I wired the camera up and fed the signal into the Dynon EFIS. I spent some time working on the alignment, and once I was satisfied i tacked the camera in place with some super glue.

I will eventually build up a fiberglass and epoxy fairing to smooth out the transition to the camera. I will also likely need to make this removable, but thats for another day.