Device to Un-trap the Hood Sealing Flap

[Leo Bolter]

A Device to Un-trap the Hood Sealing Flap

On my Jupiter, JJ-1951, when the hood is in the stowed position and the cover fitted, there is a tendency for the centre portion of the hood front sealing flap, which is designed to press against the windscreen frame, to be flattened and distorted by pressure of the cover resting on it.
This leads to the flap being partially trapped at the apex of the “Vee” of the front bow of the hood when the hood is raised and is being clamped to the windscreen frame.
This simple device, when put into place as the hood is being raised will, when pulled out, draw the flap out to its correct position after the hood is secured with its catches, so preventing further damage and the inevitable water leak.
This example is made from a scrap of Vinyl cloth, but anything fairly tough would do the job. The metal grommet is not essential . . . it just makes it easier to pull and makes the device look “important”.

01 Pressure Point(pc).JPG

02 Triangular Piece Draped over the Screen frame(pc).JPG

03 Large End Rolled up Ready to be Pulled(pc).JPG

[Jack]

Leo, are you not worried about the potential damage to the sealing strip along the front of the hood? I wouldn't want to pull a piece of vinyl through with the hood secured. Also eventually the fabric side of the vinyl may rub on the paint on the windscreen frame.

Or is this done without the catch being done up? Picture above suggests otherwise, but wanted to check.

Jack.

[Leo Bolter]

Hello Jack.
Your thoughts are legitimate mate. But there really aren't any problems like that which you have anticipated.

The catch needs to be done up to achive the correct positioning of the front sealing flap . . . if the catch was to be left loose and the bow not pulled down, the pulling of the "device" would not drag the sealing flap out to where it should be. It would just slip by.

There were in fact two more images I wanted to put into that previous post which would have shown the underside of the front bow, but the "system" wouldn't let me attach more that three!, So I just used the three more essential ones. I include those images in this post.

Of interest . . . This is how we made the front bow seal so effective. Note that in the picture, the material that can be seen on the underside of the bow is vinyl. The soft material that actually causes the sealing, is attached to the underside of the wood structure with the vinyl over it. From the front and working back, the sealing system setup is this. The stiff flap on the front (just below the "Hidem" strip) is the primary seal against the driven water, followed by a anti-capillary gap and then the vinyl pressed down on the screen bow to back up the front seal and prevent draughts . . . it works brilliantly. You can see from this that it's imperative that the primary seal (the stiff flap) is not tucked under. The "device" wasn't needed originally, but as my top is very seldom erected and is normally covered by the tonneau, the centre section of the seal flap does tend to get flattened by the cover.

I can't see a problem concerning the worry of rubbing or scratching the paint on the frame myself, but the device could be turned over to put the vinyl side in contact with the paint . . should be good, provided there's no dirt or grit on any of the surfaces . .

01a Flattened Flap(pc).jpg

04 Pulling Triangle Through(pc).JPG

Thanks for your comments, Jack. They are really appreciated.

Leo,