On our trip to Nebraska we landed in Shenandoah Iowa for fuel as we headed west. When I got out to fuel I found this:
I have an idea why this happened, when we loaded up in the morning it was still windy and cold at home. After we loaded up I slid the canopy closed loosely just to get the wind off us. When I needed to secure the canopy I just used the latch to pull it closed the rest of the way rather than sliding the canopy aft and sliding it forward with the normal force to get it to its closed position. So I think I added a little of side force on that corner and that plus the rivet hole caused the crack.
So I tried to stop drill it in Nebraska but the drill bit was too dull so I stopped. I figured I would take my chances on the trip home. I reached out to Vans with my game plan and they agreed it was the best plan of attack.
What I decided to do was to drill the hole using a coat hanger heated red hot and melt the hole. This was needed since the crack is right on top of the roll bar frame. After melting the hole I carefully sanded the edge of the hole to clean the edges. I then used my scratch repair liquids to remove the sanding marks and return the area back to clear. Once that was finished I made sure the crack was perfectly lined up and then used Weld-On #3 to weld the two parts of the crack together. Weld-On is an acrylic glue that actually welds the two parts together chemically. This glue is thinner than water and wicks itself into the crack.
After 24 hours I sanded the crack a little to make sure all the edges were nice and smooth and then polished it all up. Even with the crack repair you can still see it as a shadow. So I decided it was time to cover the forward edge of the canopy. This is a common practice to clean up the edge. Some paint it but I decided I would just cut a 3/4” strip of glossy black vinyl and use that to cover it.
You can still see a slight ripple where the crack was if you look just right but most will never see it. They always say it’s not if but when you canopy will crack. If this was “my” crack I will be very happy it happened where it did.