I was on the road all week, so I didn't get anything done until the weekend. On Sunday, I finished trimming the plexiglas for the sliding part of the canopy, and got the back third of it drilled and clecoed to the frame. I had the shop heated up to about 30 deg C (about 85 deg F) to make the plexiglas softer, and more forgiving of minor abuses. I was sweating buckets, but there weren't any cracks.

Monday evening, it took too long to get the shop up to temperature, so I abandoned any thought of working on the plexiglas. I drilled out the holes in the canopy frame to the final size.

Tuesday, I managed to get home early to turn the heater on in the shop. I drilled the holes in the plexiglas to the final size, did the final trimming at the front and back, and smoothed all the edges. Then I screwed up my courage and got out the pop rivets to temporarily rivet it in place. I just about died when the "nail" on the first pop rivet let go, as they make a loud "bang!". I immediately thought a crack had started. Once I got my heart slowed down, I finished putting in a rivet every 10 - 12 inches. They hold the canopy nicely in position so I can fit the fibreglas canopy skirt.

I'm quite happy with the way the canopy has gone so far. No cracks! I figure that there are five points in the process when cracks could happen (cracks could happen when trimming the plexiglas, drilling it to the frame, enlarging the holes to final size, temporarily riveting it to the frame, or final riveting it to the frame) and I've made it through four of them on the sliding part of the canopy, and two of them on the fixed windscreen portion.