I used blue masking tape to hold the inflatable canopy seal in place before gluing it. Since the seal is stretchy, if you're not careful, you can scrunch it up so that it is too short or stretch it so that it is too long. I kept removing the tape and putting it back on until I felt like I had the minimum distortion throughout the length of the seal.

Once I was happy with its placement, I removed the masking tape in a short section and pulled the seal away from the fuselage and applied the silicone adhesive that Lancair includes with the seal. Pressed the seal back into place and put new masking tape to hold it there. I repeated the process in short sections at a time until I was all the way around and back where I started.

 

By the way, it had been over two years between buying the canopy seal (and the included silicone adhesive) and installing it. To be on the safe side, I bought a new, fresh, tube of silicone adhesive from Lancair.

There doesn't seem to be much, if any, friction between the seal and the canopy when the canopy opens and closes, so I didn't put a huge amount of silicone adhesive on it. Silicone adhesive is hard to clean up without smearing it and making a mess, so I tried to get on just enough without a lot of squeeze out.

I also protected the tube that sticks out of the canopy seal that attaches to the canopy pump because my glare shield sort of rubs on it. I was afraid that vibration would eventually rub a hole in the tube.

 

 

I turned down the pressure setting on the canopy seal air pump to its lowest setting, probably less than 5 psi. That's enough to effectively seal and more pressure was lifting the canopy away from the fuselage. You might want to experiment with that in the hangar. I can't see any benefit of more pressure than you need.

 

Dennis

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