root fairing gap

When installing the lower wing root fairing I noticed about a 1/8 to 3/16 gap between the fairing and the fuselage where the fairing comes up and around the leading edge. Seems like there should be a seal of some kind but I don't see anything in the manual. Am I missing something?

Jake
There is no gap seal in this area. Mine seems to fit quite tightly, perhaps the bend is slightly off in yours? Have you got all the screws in place? It might pull into place. You could fabricate a strip of aluminum that would fill the gap or add some fiberglass on top for a perfect fit. Wax the fuselage in the gap area, rough up the aluminum faring then lay some strips of glass and resin around the bend to fill the gap. This would not be a difficult job and you would end up with a perfect fit. Half an hour a day for two or three days to complete.

Thanks Tom, it looks like I may have to do that. All the screws are tight and the gap is determined by the screws holding the fairing to the wing, so no room for adjustment. Also the region from the LE back along the top has no support angles so the airflow would go directly into the cavity with the fuel and vent lines. Browsing the forum, there seem to be rubber or plastic seals used in this area on other RV models, maybe I can use those..

Jake you are correct about the gap seals on other models - the 9A I helped with has them and work well.

I just ran out and took a photo of my wing root fairing - pilot side shown. The finger is to help with reflections and sizing - fuselage skin on the left. As you can see, the fit is quite good without a gap seal.

Another option

You can use the same rubber channel that is on the eppennage as your root fairing seal. This is how Van's did this before the RV-10 and RV-14. I did this on my RV-10 as I did not like the metal on metal butt joint. I think it looks a lot better as well. Van's sells the material in various lengths.

Remember to add a dab of black RTV in the channel just before installing (in other words add the RTV then install the channel before it sets). This prevents the channel from working free.

Carl

Thanks Carl. Unfortunately the 14 doesn't have a seal on the empennage either. Can anyone supply a part# please?

The other thing which kinda bothers me is that the root fairing has no support angles on the fuselage from about 3in aft of the LE on the bottom to about 6in aft of the LE on top. A gentle push with a finger in this region will move the fairing quite a bit (see pic). I'm ordering a couple of the angles (F14121A-L and -R) used below the LE to put on top.

Here is the link to order the rubber channel from Van's: http://vansaircraft.com/cgi-bin/store.cgi?ident=1500381601-248-366&browse=hardware&product=misc

To use this, you need to trim the root fairing to get 1/4" or so gap then install the rubber channel. Remember to add a touch of black RTV inside the channel before installing. You don't need much. Clean up any excess before it sets.

For the RV-10 and RV-14 the channel only goes on the leading edge (where there is no fuselage root fairing attach bracket),

Adding fuselage attached reinforcement angles on the fairing leading edge where there are none now is not required or desired.

I like the way this turned out on the RV-10. I much more finished look.

Carl

Keep us updated on what you do and post pics.