chrispratt
Well Known Member
For the third time in about as many years, the rubber channel that acts as a seal between the inboard wing faring and the fuselage on the right side came loose during flight and proceeded to thrash away at the side of my RV-8. It did not do any damage but sounded like someone with a hammer banging away at my airplane. Fortunately, I had a short flight to get back to my home field.
It?s the original piece of rubber channel (12 years in flight and more like 15 if you count time in the box) so my fix for now is to replace it with new channel.
What puzzles me is that each of the three times it has been on the right wing, topside. The left side channel (knock on wood) has never been a problem.
Anyone else have this issue? And does anyone have suggestions for a fix? The last time this happened was about a year ago and I put some 3M weather-strip glue between the channel and the wing fairing. The 3M stuff really does not want to stick to the rubber (plus its messy as **** and hard to apply only where you waant it to go). I noticed after this latest incident that it basically stuck to the metal of the fairing but not very well to the channel.
I?ve included a few photos. As you can see, it cleans up easily and no damage was done other than to my nerves. Very inconvenient though and I?d like to find a more permanent solution. Suggestions welcome.
Right side rubber channel came free during flight
Rubber channel marked up the side of the fuselage but no damage
Clean up was easy. Now to replace with new rubber.
Chris
It?s the original piece of rubber channel (12 years in flight and more like 15 if you count time in the box) so my fix for now is to replace it with new channel.
What puzzles me is that each of the three times it has been on the right wing, topside. The left side channel (knock on wood) has never been a problem.
Anyone else have this issue? And does anyone have suggestions for a fix? The last time this happened was about a year ago and I put some 3M weather-strip glue between the channel and the wing fairing. The 3M stuff really does not want to stick to the rubber (plus its messy as **** and hard to apply only where you waant it to go). I noticed after this latest incident that it basically stuck to the metal of the fairing but not very well to the channel.
I?ve included a few photos. As you can see, it cleans up easily and no damage was done other than to my nerves. Very inconvenient though and I?d like to find a more permanent solution. Suggestions welcome.
Right side rubber channel came free during flight
Rubber channel marked up the side of the fuselage but no damage
Clean up was easy. Now to replace with new rubber.
Chris