Doug,

I went with the 18 Bid per the plans on 3 aircraft.  

If you are referring to the leading edge contact at the header tank
thickness..?....  All 3 that I built required trimming the carbon back the
width of the header tank overlap (or about 3/4").

No problems on mine 850 hrs to date.  No cracking.

Am I missing your question.  Why would resultant calculated thickness have
anything to do with plans requirement of bids?

Larry Henney


-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Baleshta [mailto:dbaleshta@tru.ca]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 12:51 PM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: forward hinge canopy bid thickness LN360

Hi folks, the forward hinge canopy calls for up to 18 bid of unidirectional
carbon fiber.  I measured the thickness and according to the plans it should
be around .140".  The only unidirectional fiber I've found measures in at
.023, or about 7 bid.  Has anyone else come across this and what did you do?
Did any of you use bi-directional CF with any problems?

Thanks
Doug