Canopy stop

08 Aug 2005 Canopy stop

I had been using a plunger type canopy stop, but I recently saw something cool on a few RV8s – a kind of cam shaped canopy stop.

The advantage of the cam shaped canopy stop is that when you want to open the canopy quickly all the way, there is nothing stopping it. When you want it to stop, you move the cam back behind the hook, then slowly move it forward until it drops into the hook. This is very convenient, and I believe a bit safer.

I bought the canopy stop from Mike Zeller. Here is what you get in the kit. He calls it the RV-8 Canopy Latch.

I decided to make a slightly longer cam out of delrin. I felt the installation would be a bit cleaner. I saw about 8 of these things at Oshkosh, and I unfortunately did not note how they attached the hook part of the canopy stop.

You can also see how I shaped the aluminum bushing so that it fits on the canopy frame. In case you are wondering, I bought a few of these kits so I could give them to my other RV8 friends.

Here is a look at the system installed. Works fine.

Another view from the top. I’m going to try to get Mike to make me a longer cam so that it will look cooler.