Here's a quick, cheap way to deal with the gas cylinder for the aft canopy strut not extending stiffly or strongly enough (happens to us all when we reach a certain age)...
I found that the gas spring that extends the rear canopy support in my 1985 Taifun 17E (ser. 1047) has lost some of its charge. The result is that it began to move forward as soon as I began to slide the canopy forward from the fully open position, thus jamming in the canopy center track after a few inches.
A search of both domestic and foreign auto parts shops found no suitable replacement; a fellow Taifun owner was told by Korff that it's a specific part and can only be manufactured in quantities of ten or more.
A visit to the local hardware store provided a number of compression springs--both small ones that would fit over the extended rod of the gas spring, and larger ones that would fit over the entire spring.
In the end, the one that worked best was smaller in diameter than the fitting at the end of the rod. By spreading the first winding with a screwdriver I was able to "roll" the spring onto the rod. (The spring I obtained was actually considerably longer than the rod; I simply cut off what I needed with a wire cutter.
The entire process, including standing on my head to get everything installed again, took less than half an hour.
Total cost: $3.00
The new setup works perfectly, with the spring providing the necessary force while the remaining gas charge and oil in the gas spring still provide some damping action. Photos below show the new arrangement in place, as well as a picture of the spring material (actually the part I cut off) with a 10mm wrench for scale.
Spring in its place
Spring and 10 mm wrench
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