Hi Linda,
Thanks for the interesting, effective, bird solution. While my coupe is now in a hanger, it sat outside for the first 25 years I owned it.......and birds were a problem. Harry ________________________________ From: Linda Abrams <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, May 29, 2010 6:57:20 PM Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Bird Barrier solution Some time back, one of the forum members posted that birds were pooping on his 'Coupe, and sought a way to keep them off. My 'Coupe is tied down outside and had the same problem: our coastal area's birds seem to particularly like perching on the top of the rudders and making a mess down on the elevator. I've finally devised an easy & inexpensive device that seems effective in keeping them off: I took a length of ordinary foam pipe insulation (the kind that has a pre-cut slit along one side and costs about 97 cents) and cut ~1' lengths. I took 2 of those, opened up the slit, and pushed some stainless steel wire nails through at various angles *from the inside to the outside*, so that the nails point up and out when the insulation piece is horizontal. The nails make a sharp & bristly inhospitable surface when the length of foam is pushed onto the top of the rudder/vertical stabilizer via the slit. To keep the foam piece on at our windy airport, I used exterior- grade heavy-duty Romex (coated electrical wire) to form a sort of zig- zag clamp over the top of each piece, and extending down the sides of the vertical stab. Caution: most Romex tries to return to straight & will not hold a shape, however lengths of the exterior grade can be formed like giant pipe cleaners to hold a shape, and can be bent to hold the foam-nail assembly onto the top of the vertical stab/ rudder. The tips of each Romex "clamp" should be bent back or tool- dipped to avoid the wires inside the Romex scratching the plane's paint. After a week or so, I did notice that one of these homemade bird barriers did have some pecking marks in the foam, presumably from an evicted & disgruntled bird, but after that, they've left it alone. Total construction costs were about $5 and 5 minutes, so if they eventually disintegrate, they're easily replaced. Removing and replacing them gets added to my pre-flight and post-flight checklists. Linda N3437H (Sky Sprite) L.A.
