Gluing on Fabric

Hi All,

There are many homebuilts where the designer intends that the fabric be
attached to the wings solely by gluing. Aircraft such as the Corby Starlet,
Jodel D-18, Kitfox etc. These aircraft all use wider rib cap strips than is
normal to provide a large area for the glue to adhere to.

This practise is supported by calculations which show that the loading on
the glue joints is low (even in the presence of peel loads) and test data
that I have reviewed for the various glues in use.

However on the Polyfiber web site they claim that rib stitching MUST be
used - no exceptions even if the designer states otherwise.

What is the experience from the field ? I am interested in the experiences
of RAH members. If you have glued fabric on without rib stitching was it a
success of failure ? What was the airplane, how wide are the cap strips and
what glue and fabric were used. If failures occurred what was the nature of
these ???

Thanks,

Steve