RANS Canopy Cover
By Mark Pensenstadler
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I built this airplane to fly! I plan on flying to destinations across the United States and camping under the wing. This is what this hobby is all about. While I'm tucked away in the safety of my sleeping bag and tent, I want to know that my airplane is protected as well. A good canopy cover can prevent scratches from forming on the lexan windshield. The canopy cover also serves as a deterrent to those curious folk at Oshkosh who can help themselves and have to crawl under the wing and peek in the window-often scratching the lexan doors with their sunglasses or swinging camera.

When I started looking for a canopy cover to buy, my choices where Bruce's Custom Covers and RANS. Both covers are waterproof and safe on lexan. The Bruce's cover was less money, but I didn't like that they have no picture of it on their website. When I called the company to ask about it, they indicated that they would design the cover off of drawings of the airplane. Really? How well could a cover fit if they are designing it off of drawings? Have they ever made one before for the S-6? If they have, why is there no picture of it on their website?

Bruce's also indicated that their cover weighs 9 pounds. That's a considerable weight to carry in the plane when I'm loaded for a week long camping trip to Oshkosh with two people, full fuel, and baggage. However I did like the fact that their cover was $105 less than RANS' cover.

Bruce's makes covers for a zillion different airplane, and however they design them, it must work because there's a lot of them out there. I almost ordered one but the nine pounds kept eating at me though.

I e-mailed RANS and asked about the weight of their cover. Eddie indicated that it weighs just 2.2 pounds. Wow-that's light! A savings of nearly 7 pounds is significant so I ordered a RANS canopy cover for the S-6S.

Within a few days, a package arrived at my front door from RANS. When I picked it up I actually thought it was empty! I knew it wasn't, but it sure was light. I opened the box and pulled out a new canopy cover packed in it's own black carry bag. My first thought was of tents I've bought in the past-once I take it out of this bag, it will never fit back in! But, I took the cover out, looked at it, and then, in no real order, folded it back up. RANS planned ahead for this and made the bag large enough that I had no difficulty placing the cover back into the bag.

I was excited to get back to the hangar to fit the canopy cover to the plane. If you are installing this cover by yourself, I found it easiest to put it on the front and work back. Flip the top over the top of the windshield and let the sides fall to the side. Then it's just a simple process to walk behind the wing and connect a snap that holds the side to the top. There are a couple of straps that go around the bottom of the plane to hold it in place.

There is a strap on the bottom of both sides that's designed to wrap around the landing gear. This strap was sewn into place to fit a tri-gear version of the S-6S. I had to call RANS and ask them if these were suppose to be for a tri-gear. Yes they are, but we had a perfect solution. RANS sent me an additional length of white strap material and I used the clips from the cover to just connect the straps along the bottom of the plane. I actually like this arrangement better and I think it adds more security to the sides of the cover.

RANS leaves the white straps that are sewn on to the cover long and once I get it all adjusted, I will cut off the additional length.

One of the things that I really like about this cover is that it covers the entire door (this extra coverage would have been extra with Bruce's cover). This not only protects the lexan on the bottom of the door, but it will prevent those peeping Toms from trying to get close and look through the bottom of the door at Oshkosh.

If you're looking for a canopy cover for your RANS airplane, consider buying from the factory. This cover fits great, looks good, and is made from a soft waterproof material. I held the cover in one hand and a pair of jeans in the other. The one pair of jeans actually felt heavier! I like the idea of having only to haul around a very light weight canopy cover.
 

Additional Info:

Here is Tom Chapman's cover on his S-7.