My turtle deck is a RR factory made part. I added a roll bar made from ¼ inch a/c plywood, two layers for ½ inch thick by 2-1/2 inch wide, glassed 2 BID to the inside at the leading edge. The TD is removable and attached with 10-32 ss screws. Nut plates are attached to the fuselage top 5/8 spruce. TD total weight ready for paint is 8.6 pounds.
Sid Wood Tri-gear KR-2 N6242 Mechanicsville, MD USA sidney.w...@l-3com.com "turtle deck from wood will weigh about 7 lbs, my question is, how does this compare weight wise to a composite structure?" I weighed mine last night and it came out to 10 lbs. Mine is larger than most as I am 6'5" and have included head room on top of that. It is 37" W x 20" T and tapers to 13" W x 8" T with a total length of 57". I also incorporated half of my roll over structure into the front bow of the TD to avoid making my canopy mechanism do to much work. I incorporated one stiffening rib that runs down the center on the inside that is 1" x 3". I think you will find the main advantage of building the TD from glass is its ability to form compound shapes. My TD wouldn't "look" right if it went straight from the aft edge of my canopy to the tail so there is a slight bow at the top before it straightens out. Stephen Teate Paradise, Texas
