Skylight

the skylight is held in at the front and rear with bracketry and hardware but is also held with tapes on the sides and is sealed with more fabric tapes at the front and back. what year is the plane? post 1992 might need the wings to be taken off.
 
Bartman said:
the skylight is held in at the front and rear with bracketry and hardware but is also held with tapes on the sides and is sealed with more fabric tapes at the front and back. what year is the plane? post 1992 might need the wings to be taken off.
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It’s a 1974 model in good shape
 
1974 with original style wings will have a wing root fairing that will allow access to the tapes that seal up the skylight along the sides. With the sklylight panel out, the old tapes have to be removed so the panel and new tapes can be installed. After that it's paint and reassembly. I don't know how long all of that would take as I'm not an A&P and I've never tried it but it's probably not a quick process. maybe not $5000 either.
 
Mine is 1977 with what I now realize are original style wings. What on earth made them change to the wings that make access so difficult? Is that why some Decs are way faster than mine?
 
I don't know if it's why they're faster or if they even are faster. I also don't know why they changed it but the newer style with the fairing integrated into the root of the wing is probably prettier and a better seal of the root area against water.
 
1979 was the first year with the integrated wing root fairing and required removing the wings to change the skylight. On your 1974 there should be fabric tapes glued down the sides of the skylight and one under the aluminum trim at the rear. I would think the fabric would not need a perfect finish as they will be covered by trim. I'd guess 20 to 40 hours depending on fabric experience. A wise old A&P once told me "It will cost what it costs."
 
There are two overlapping 3" tapes at the rear, is there also a metal trim strip over the tapes?
 
I just did this during my rebuild. Having the removable fairings gives you access to the sides where the tapes are applied so paint matching isn't a problem. The front trim strip covers the windshield to greenhouse area so no paint matching problem there either. That leaves only the back of the greenhouse that is bolted to the rear mounting plate. That is the only "paint-to-match" area comes in. If you're careful during removing the old plexi getting a paint match should be relatively easy.
There are close up pics of the skylight in my post located in the Restoration section of the forum named 7AC rebuilding. Go to post #38 for the close ups.
IMPO getting the skylight fit correctly is harder than doing the small amount of covering/repainting.

Chris
 
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