Don I am in the process of covering my wings now and am almost through. Pete Petrie is doing the same with his wings and they had been metal at one time. If I had a Coupe that was not original factory metal covered, then I would defnitely consider removeing the metal and going back to fabric. If I had factory metal wings, then I would look at them Very Closely because they weren't made to last forever either.
My wings have allways been fabric covered and the Ceconite had been on
there
over 30 years.(since1967) The 30 year old Ceconite was in good condition
but I
just felt like it was time for a better look and I am glad that I did.
There
are places that you just can not see without removeing the fabric. The 16
inspection holes are good but you need a really good look and the only way
is
to remove the fabric. I had corrosion between the steel rear spar
attachment
point and the Aluminum wing spar. It required removeing and replaceing the
steel part and I am convinced that it would not have made it another 30
years
without failing. There are a few other places that steel is used in the
wing
and dissimilar metal corrosion appears to be a problem. I have used the
Stits
Epoxy Chromate Primer throughout my wings and am also useing the Stits
Poly-
Fiber process to recover them. It is easy to work with and I would
reccomend
it to anyone.
Pete's wings were originally fabric then metalized and then returned to
fabric covered. Some of his ribs had so many holes in them that he had to
replace some of the parts. He is useing the Stits Process also and we are
both
in about the place on recovering them. If these airplanes were made to
last
forever, when they were made 50 years ago, we would not have these
problems,
but they weren't. All things considered they were built very good and with
the
proper preventative maintenance they will go another 50 years.
The 30 year old synthetic cover jobs may still look good but:
CORROSION CAN KILL YOU
Just don't put all of your faith in those 32 inspection holes, you may
get
an unplesant suprise.
kim
2523H
PS Mice have the nasty habit of going all the way out to the wing tip to
make
their nests and I have found them in both wing tips on the same airplane.
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