I recently saw this canopy closure for a Sonex. Anyone have details on this cylinder or any experiences with other approaches or methods? I did a quick search of the site but didn’t find anything.
Andy’s Waiex down under has a gas strut. Specs in the comments.
I’ve got the cable, 430 hours and counting.
I had my canopy slam shut during construction while I was climbing in backwards to work under the IP. And last week I looked at the wind getting ready to do a quick ground run, had the plane positioned with the wind blowing left to right (to not slam closed). A 25-30 mph wind, grabbed and twisted the canopy, put cracks in the corners. Not my lucky component.. @&$%#¥£€!!!
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It’s windy here in Illinois. We are always super careful. We never leave the canopy open except in the hangar. Solo I keep a hand up so it won’t crash down, at least until I get up high enough that my head will protect it. If it’s really windy when we are flying dual, we take turns holding the canopy from inside or outside.
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A related topic. Where I live it is hot much of the year. So, like others have done, I made a custom canopy latch that allow the canopy to be left partially open. I added one more twist. I left the locator pin long enough that it engages while in the partially open position. I also added a spring to keep the latch pulled close. That allows me to leave the canopy partially open while parked in the sun and not worry about it blowing fully open. So far so good.
Wes
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Very nice. Typically we just suffer when it’s hot. Sometimes the left seater will hold it open while the right seater taxis. We loop a bungee through the left air vent and hook onto the non-folding handle, with a roll of masking tape on the sill to keep it open when parked. The single hook keeps the masking tape from departing.
Thanks.
And I forgot one detail. Since I added the spring, I needed something to pull against while I open the canopy. So, I added l little button on the inside and outside to hold while operating the latch. If you look closely, you can see it in this picture.
Wes
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I’ve got the spring, it was per plans. I could use the button on the outside. How did you implement it?
It’s coming up on seven years ago I honestly don’t remember. It couldn’t have been too hard, I figured it out. All I remember is tubing, a single steal screw, screw head on the outside and elastic stop nut on the inside.
Oh yea, I remember making a hole all the way through the canopy large enough for the tubing to pass through.
It’s all pretty fuzzy 
Sorry,
Wes
I went with Peter Anson’s over center lever for the closure and I LOVE IT TO PIECES.
Pete Fernell has a gas strut on his canopy, so I tried one on mine, but didn’t like the way the closure force distorted the frame so it didn’t want to latch right, so I removed it and added a hatch cover hold open from the boating world.
I also changed the lock bar to add a second position. I might have to extend the lock/locating pin, as the canopy wants to slip backwards when it’s on the second hook.
From my build log:
Hatch Hold Open Spring
Peter Anson Canopy Latch
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I remember seeing that hatch hold open spring install and think it is a great idea!
For a canopy hold open device my thinking goes like this:
Dale
3.0 Corvair/Taildragger
Dale, think about how you will operate that knob behind your right shoulder with your shoulder harness on. It is lighter than my spring though.
Well … I’m thinking that the only time I’d really need to touch it would be to lock the canopy open when I’m standing next to the plane for entry/exit when loading/unloading a passenger and/or baggage.
I open my canopy to enter and exit & try to keep it closed otherwise. I’ve tried to make that a habit from day one. When I’m away from the plane the canopy will be down, latched, and locked for security reasons.
Seems a couple of small pieces of aluminum tubing (one sliding inside the other) could do the same thing and just have a drilled hole for the open position that could be locked with a pin (perhaps the same one that locks the canopy closed.) I’d leave the canopy strap in place as a safety catch.
Simplest way would be to use a rod like a hood latch rod off of a Yugo or something similar … 8~)
Dale
3.0 Corvair/Taildragger