Keeping an RV outside

Hi Everyone,
I'm thinking about buying an RV6 or RV7 but I need to keep it tied outside all year long.
Hail, wind and sun damage aside...how water proof is the cabin area?
Or how waterproof can you make the cabin area?

The tip up canopy looks like it would drip water all over your avionics and instruments and the slider looks like it would drip all over the seats.

Getting a hangar is simply not an option (if it was, I'd keep the C170 and buy a Pitts).

Has anyone else had to solve this problem?

Thanks.
-David

I had a 6A outside for about 4 months. It got wet until I put a Bruce's cover on it. That seemed to work fine keeping the water out.

+1 on the bruces cover. very good protection.

pa38112 said:

I had a 6A outside for about 4 months. It got wet until I put a Bruce's cover on it. That seemed to work fine keeping the water out.

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David,

I see that you too are getting tired of the nitpicky BS required to keep a type certificated airplane in the air. Welcome over to the Dark Side!

Hey Miles, I didn't know you were building a 7.

Yeah the never ending "Approved" debates are wearing me down little by little. That and we never seem to have four people in the plane and never seem to fly as fast as we want but always seem to burn too much gas

Our mission is: Me, My Wife, Two folding bicycles and a day trup. In the 170; that's Ocean City but in a 6 or 7, it's the Outer Banks.

My real concern is keeping a bubble canopy outside in the weather all year long. My wife's concern is sight seeing with the wing on the bottom.

cover

Bruces covers INCLUDING full wing and emp covers would be wise. Nice product.

If summer, and good warm weather something like Abby from Flightlines lightweight canopy cover or comparable would be a must. Does a great job keeping water out. I would never leave my plane outside even over one night without a basic light nylon cover on the canopy.

Tip up

I have left my 9a tipup out in nasty weather. Didn't have a choice. A targa strip and appropriately placed strips of electrical tape have kept the inside completely dry. The tape even comes in the right colour.

covers etc.

I use a bruce's cover on the canopy, seems to keep water out, but I leave the vents open so a little air blows thru so it doesn't condense inside.
Yup, one month after I bought 'er, it hailed and dented my ailerons and elevators!
after a year of watching snow collect around the fuel caps, I started putting low-tack vinyl decals over them between fueling ( adds about 10 knots too! .....but oddly, I've rarely had water in the fuel due to 'leaky' caps.

Other than 'storage' .....having a plane outside can be a P.I.A. when it comes time to do the annual, or daily maintenance. Power, tools, water, etc. if not nearby really complicate things. I guess you could send a 6-pack, Timbits and/or flowers to your nearby hangar owners to keep in their good books.

Plugs as well...

Bruce not only makes a great canopy cover, but he makes some great inlet plugs which you'll also want.

I have a Bruce canopy and engine cover for the 170. They really are great, I wasn't sure if they'd be water tight enough for a canopy like the RV tho. It's good to hear that people are already doing it.

IMO Sun damage is the worst (next to hail) but at least you don't need a step ladder to polish an RV's wings.

Working in the field is a challenge. Lots of battery operated tools and the trunk of my car looks like a mini work shop. It's not ideal but it's doable for minor stuff like oil changes, instrument replacement, radio installations, circuit re-wiring, strobe installations, tailwheel rebuild, flap rollers...yeah a hangar would be nice.

Just remember to try to keep the canopy cover clean, and the canopy also clean before you put the cover on. Nothing like having the wind constantly move the cover over a dusty canopy.

I keep mine between SC (work during the week) and GA (go home on weekends); hangar in SC tie down in GA (on hangar list). I really only take the plane home on weekends that I'm 'guaranteed' to have nice weather Not sure where your city is, but I can tell you, that I would seriously have to convince myself to keep an RV out all the time in the SE where I live - purely for the convenience and piece of mind aspect - especially this time of year when TS seem to pop up out of the blue. It is such a light airplane, that I believe if my only choice was a tie-down, I would stick with a heavier airframed certified 'beater' until I could manage a hangar arrangement. It has been discussed in other threads, and many do it. I believe the question is how much hassle and worry are you willing to go through in order to do it. Hasn't happened, but for a couple times, but the few weekends that I've had my plane tied down for the weekend and unexpected winds kicked up, it was a long night listening to the wind howling and the trees branches beating against the house.

I have kept mine on the ramp for over a month now since completing the plane. The Bruce canopy cover seems to work pretty well. The biggest problem has been starling poop on the empannage.

I got a big vinyl sign for free from Lamar Advertising and made a full cover which I can put on if bad weather is forecast or I don't plan to fly for a while. I lined the wing covers with king size sheets to keep it from scratching the polished aluminum, and to give the plane light hail protection. I use the canopy cover and a beach towel under the fuselage cover. Didn't feel like sewing the edges so I used pop rivets with roves. The back side of the sign is black so I put reflective strips from Autozone on it to make it visable at night. The project probably took 10 hours and about $200 for sheets, rivets, bungees, grommets and reflective strips. I always throw homemade cover over the vertical stab/rudder to help with the starlings.

One other tip

Just another suggestion. VERY robust control locks. More than a few RVs have had side gusts on the rudder that not only broke the basic locks, but torqued the rudder enough to contact the elevator and punch a hole in the skin.

I have used airgizmo clamps on control surfaces when parked at fly ins or fbos over night and found them loose in the mornings. Junk. Get good stuff, maybe use in cabin locks as a back up.

My -7A got kept outside for a couple years becasue there was no other affordable option. A couple things that havent been discussed:

With castoring nose wheels, it is imperative that the wheel chocks are kept tight against the wheels during wind events, otherwise even slight rocking will pivot the nose wheel all the way against the stops and really start tweaking things. I made myself some PVC chocks that have slip joints so it can expand and contract, and a piece of shock cord in the inside to keep both ends pulled tight against the tires. Works slick.

Rain water can enter the wings at the junction with the leading edge of the flaps, then flow inward toward the fuselage, then forward, then into the cabin. Some blue painters tape applied along the first several feet of the joint between the wing and flaps (working from the intersection with the fuselage outward) before a rain event will stop this. An unexpected path, but found this out by pulling the seat pans out and observing what happens as a running hose is applied to various portions of the wing.

With some TLC every weekend I was able to live with it outside, but Im much happier now that im in a hangar.
erich

My experience

Bagarre said:

My wife's concern is sight seeing with the wing on the bottom.

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Just need to get her used to 60 degree banks

Seriously though, the RV7 I bought spent a Northwest winter without an engine out in the elements, and there was a significant amount of moisture in the cockpit. I replaced the carpet and insulation in the footwells and bought a Bruce's cover before moving to Seattle where it endured some pretty harsh conditions. The cover definitely helped a ton, but after major rain, it is still a bit wet in the back (slider). Luckily I have a winter hangar storage option now, but my plane still spends about 8 months on the ramp in the rainy Northwest. My A&P did find a little corrosion around the tail feather area, even with pretty thorough priming from the builder. Nothing major, but still worth keeping an eye on.

The slider definitely leaks when flying in rain, but the cover make a big difference on the ground. Kept outside, it definitely gets dirty from dust/pollen and occasional/frequent rain. I'm glad I don't have a fancy interior so I can pull out the carpets quickly.

I always tie down tight, with rudder lock and seat belt around the stick full aft, even if I think its only for a short time because plans to "fly again tomorrow" change.