Roberto, WHY ??
The new fabrics are superior to the ,020 thickness metal . I looked into this 20 years ago, and discovered that the light metal is easily ruined by hail storms, whle the new fabrics survive them without damage. The metal wings increase the empty weight by about 35 pounds, lowering the useful load...already at low limits for the Ercoupe... Metal wings are noiser, as one taxie along.. Metal wings are moredifficult to inspect...with cloth, it is easier and less costly to recover every ten years or so, to fully inspect the ineterior structure. Metal wings generally are more suseptable to corrosion, due to condensation occuring inside the wings with temperature changes. I do not know the costs involved, but there are several STC s for metalizing the wings. When Cotton was the only available fabric, I could understand the desire to use metals....But , for me, No Longer. Fly Safe - Have Fun Harry Francis N93530 since 1982... ________________________________ From: rob_waltman <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2009 10:40:56 AM Subject: [ercoupe-tech] 'Metalizing' fabric wings. Can a Ercoupe with fabric wings be converted to metalic wings? If the answer is yes, does anybody have a ballpark figure on the cost? Thanks, Roberto Waltman (In New Jersey, Looking for a LSA 415C or C/D)
