Quick-Release Cowl

[Deleted]

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[jklong03]

In addition to reporting (again) her spamming, I went to her link and sent them a feedback stating will never buy from them as long as they continue to spam our club meeting place!!

[davidr8]

I'm using Velcro to hold my cowling in place. A narrow strip of the 'hook' portion placed vertically on the left and right sides just aft of the firewall. I put a slight wider strip on the inside of the cowl but ran these fore and aft.

This way I have maximum fore/aft and vertical adjustment. The best part is that the is some give when the inevitable negative earth insertion occurs so busted cowls are less likely.

[coupe1942]

I tried this method with Velcro a couple of weeks back. Unfortunately, each time I tried to remove the Velcro, it pulled the small tabs right off from the fuselage area. I have found those darn little screws to be very difficult to contend with and even harder to line up with in trying to put the cowl back into place. Both my vision and manual dexterity are severely taxed by those darn little cowl screws. :-) 

I believe there is really no salvation method to ensure that a cowl does not break in a crash. Actually, it would not surprise me in the least to find out that the cheap plastic cowl is specifically designed to do that on these planes. Sort of like crush zones on a newer model car. When I spent time in fiberglassing my original one, I thought that the rigidity would then be an asset toward reducing breakage. Obviously not though, as my modified cowl fractured probably just as badly as any non-protected cowling has done.

I guess I am more concerned about the ease of installation of the cowl than damage done in any crash. My fumbly fingers don't do well with those small screws. As cheap as the replacement cowls are, I guess they are essentially a consumable. It is interesting to view other people's solutions.

[toff]

Tape! Specifically Fibre tape. Wrapped all over, it provides the extra strength needed to survive all but the worst crashes. And as for the 'quick release' on the cowl, I find double sided carpet tape to work really well.