Skylight/Greenhouse question-

[dreed]

Hi all-

sorry to be hitting you with all of these questions. I am purchasing a 7ECA without a skylight. It has recent fabric (4-5 years old) and I am wondering how hard it would be to install a skylight and if it would be worth it.

Thank you-

 

[Paul Agaliotis]

I just installed a skylight in a 1965 Citabria. All of the support structure for the skylight was installed before I covered it. I dont think you would be satisfied with the results if you tried to install the skylight without recovering the fuselage.
If your heart is set on a skylight, I would keep looking at Citabrias with the equiptment you want.
Paul

 

[dreed]

Thanks Paul-

I think that I found a pretty good deal on one without a skylight and I can deal without it. Besides, I am building an RV-7 and it will have one heck of a greenhouse!

Thanks again-

Dan

 

[kayakalex]

Dan,

I installed a greenhouse roof in my '74 7ECA last year. It's not a job for the faint of heart. Plunging the utility knife thru the roof is step 1, and there's no going back. Before I was finished, I had a new windshield, new interior, and new headliner. Thanks to my sweetie's hard work and skill with fabrics, the plane was down for only about a month.

However, we did not recover the fuselage. By planning the roof cuts carefully, surgically extracting and replacing some wood, and reading the PolyFiber manual about 100 times, we put it back together very neatly. My A&P was impressed, and we've loved it since.

-Alex

 

[dreed]

Thanks Alex-

I may tackle that in the winter.

Thanks again-