On Thursday, December 8, 2005 at 9:40:42 AM UTC-5, Roger Worden wrote:
Our club is looking into a new canopy for a Grob 103 Twin Astir. We received
an estimate from a well-known repair shop: $2,000 for the canopy and 50
hours of labor to install. I'm new to this field - I fly 'em, I don't fix
'em. But I'm having a hard time imagining what steps must be involved to
consume 50 hours. Hinge, latches... what am I missing?

after removing the old canopy, which includes lots of chipping t the frame with a chisel, you have to prep the frame with a grinding disc. basically you are making space for new glue. then you have to trim the canopy to size. (a slow, careful process requiring lots of concentration.) there are many test fits you have to do. then once the frame is prepped and the canopy is cut to size, you scuff the inside of the class where it will contact the frame. you have to apply a seal strip to the frame perimeter to keep glue from overflowing into the cockpit side of the canopy frame. after the canopy is glued, you have to sand the perimeter of the frame, if not stripping it completely. sometimes there is some fitting work required with bondo, then there is priming (if done in urethane) you have to sand that primer. and spraying of paint or gelcoat. then you sand that. if you sand through the paint/gelcoat, which often happens on the first attempt, you have to do touch up spraying, then sand that. by the way, sanding in this case involves working through several grits from 320 to 1500. then you can polish it. after that you clean up the edges, and generally the glider it self needs to be cleaned up as well. its definitely 50 hours of work. that's probably even a little generous.