While I wholeheartedly agree that we must read the manual, and we are
responsible for our own mistakes, but what has most concerned this builder
is the factory's cavalier response to a serious problem, and it is a problem
I brought to their attention about four years ago that does not even cost
anything to fix.
Having one of the first sets of XS wings, and there being no other part of
the kit with peel ply remaining, nor any mention of peel ply at the root rib
in the version of the manual that was current at the time I was doing this
work, I came very close to glassing over the invisible peel ply.
Apparently, many hundreds of kits later, builders are still coming too close
to putting glass over peel ply. What saved my bacon was my observation of a
very small "imperfection" in what I though was the factory glass layup.
That "imperfection" turned out to be peel ply that lifted slightly during
scuff sanding. Had my scuff sanding been less aggressive, had there been no
small "imperfection" and even had there been a notation in the manual that
there was supposed to be peel ply, I doubt that I would have ever seen the
invisible peel ply - the white peel ply looks exactly like cured
epoxy-fiberglass after the peel ply is peeled - same texture, same color.
This stuff passes the "duck test." (For those of you not familiar with what
may be an expression used only among native English speakers in the US, the
duck test goes like this: if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and
quacks like a duck . . . it's a duck!)
I doubt that many of us would deliberately destroy a factory layup that
looks exactly like we expect a good layup to look like. Therein lies the
problem. White peel ply with no color stripes or loose edges still looks
like a good layup no matter what the manual says, so why start picking at
the edges to see what happens? Another factor is that there are several
errors scattered throughout the manual (fortunately nothing serious) making
it easy to doubt the existence of peel ply where the manual says it should
be, but our eyes suggest otherwise.
Note to Ron Parigoris, there's nothing to feel foolish about. There were194
kits delivered in North America alone between mine and yours, and the
problem persists.
Best regards,
Rob Housman
Europa XS Tri-Gear A070
Airframe complete
Irvine, CA
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com]On Behalf Of Jos Okhuijsen
Subject: Re: Europa-List: Re: Peel Ply on Root Rib
Or add a red strand to it. Oops, it's allready there...
With all respect, when building it's good practice to read the manual.
It reads "remove peel ply".
If it reads "tighten bolt" and you can't find that bolt, do you just
continue or do you start asking around before that missing bolt
disappears out of sight? I find it kind of curious to blame the factory
for not using solely green peel ply or for not informing customers that
peel ply can have any colour, or for not issue warnings about not
following instructions. Of course it's bad to discover a mistake made.
Whoever is to blame. Anyhow, it's going to be my plane, and in the end
it's me who is responsible for it. Including any mistakes made. That's
at least how i see it. And i am really happy that others make and tell
about their mistakes before i have the chance to make them. <grin>
Jos Okhuijsen
kit # M600 OH-XJO 30 hrs.
John & Amy Eckel wrote:
>
> A simple solution might be to put a brightly colored sticker
> on the peel ply with the words "REMOVE PEEL PLY."
>
> John A230
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <DuaneFamly@aol.com>
> To: <europa-list@matronics.com>
> Subject: Re: Europa-List: Re: Peel Ply on Root Rib
>
>
>>
>>Please, I'd like to hear from John, Neville, and Andy on this matter. Why
>>would it NOT be changed?
>>
>>Mike Duane A207
>>Redding, California
>>XS Conventional Gear
>>
>>
>
>
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