I was an early 320 hinged canopy builder and had to hand make the pocke= ts=20 in the header tank. I did make slightly taller longeron supports for th= e=20 gas strut for a more positive over center hold-down of the canopy.

The support has bolts thru the longeron, one below the longeron thru a=20 fuselage hard point and one above the longeron thru the inside=20 vertical of a multi-bid glass "U" bracket bonded to the=20 longeron. The outside vertical is used to seal the 1.5 inch long=20= gap=20 created by the canopy seal joggle in the fwd deck. The forward deck=20 (containing the header tank) is attached by the hinge pin method.

The canopy itself has skin extensions (inverted "U") that fit over and=20 beyond the top of the longeron when the canopy is closed - the interior=20 extension keeps the forward part of the canopy from being pulled outward dur= ing=20 high speed flight by the negative pressure. The exterior overlap keeps= the=20 rain out when parked.

Additionally, I had to add a foam and uni-directional carbon stiff= ener=20 to the canopy between the forward hinge attach points because the stron= g=20 "squeeze" exerted by the gas struts forces the leading edge of the canopy to= =20 severly rub against the vertical part of the forward deck canopy seal joggle= =20 just before the canopy is closed. I use teflon tape on the joggle = ;to=20 assist the slide between the parts. Also, I added glass inverted small= "u"=20 receivers for the hinge on the underside of the forward deck where the hinge= s=20 rest when the canopy is open. These are padded with firm rubber to tak= e=20 the shock of a quickly opened canopy and the sides hold the open canopy more= =20 securely in a cross wind and to help reduce the adverse forces trying to rip= the=20 header tank from the forward deck.

I have had two "hard" landings (at least) which were severe enough to b= end=20 the nose wheel forks but I never had a problem with the longeron area since=20 there is so much flox used in the area where the longeron is drilled. =20= Flox=20 that is used to fill in the area between the fuselage and the gas strut= =20 support bracket.

Good Luck. =20

Scott Krueger=20 AKA Grayhawk
Sky2high@aol.com
II-P N92EX IO320 Aurora, IL=20 (KARR)

"...as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we kn= ow=20 we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there= are=20 some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones w= e=20 don't know we don't know." D. Rumsfeld

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