I didn't make too much progress on the canopy this week, as I got sidetracked sorting out some computer issues.

The front of the canopy frame was sitting a bit high with respect to the canopy bow, so I had to trim about 1/8 inch from the bottom of the canopy frame. Today I drilled the holes that attach it to the rollers at the bottom.

The canopy skirt as delivered has quite a bit of extra material around the edges. Van's provides a scribed trim line that shows where they think the edge of the average canopy skirt will be. I had to get my head at just the right angle to the light to find the trim line, then I marked it and made my first cuts well outside it.

Once I put it in place, I discovered that it fit very poorly at the back, and there was no way to make it go to the right shape. Many builders have reported that the skirt is much easier to fit if you cut it at the back and splice it back together later - the current kits have it in separate left and right halves. It still looks like I will have to do quite a bit of cutting and fitting to get this thing to sit tight to the fuselage at the rear. Oh well :-(

I'm going to be on the road all week, and most of the next three weeks, so things are going back into slow mode.