SB 13-12-12 Water proofing?

water damage

what is this heavy rain doing to the prop?

I never experienced problems with the prop in even the heaviest rain.
I did find the pitot clogged with water once which made me loose speed info.
Hard work to get the water out again.

water damage, part II

Just reporting back on my supposed leak...
good news and bad news:

-The good ones? Not a drop under the hood! Sealing the top and the sides proved to be enough to not to have any water damage.

-The bad ones? No idea what happened up there... still a mistery...

Took a stab at sealing off the top skin / avionics bay this weekend on my project. Did not find success. I followed the instructions using bo-lube and took the skin off after only a few hours of curing. I'm glad I did as it stuck to everything except where it should have. The area that the seal should have stuck to was the only place it didn't stick. I can't say how much of a role the lube played in cleaning up the black mess (this stuff gets everywhere) but it all came off pretty easily since it didn't cure.

Next plan is to create a ridge with 3 or 4 layers of blue painters tape as the skin fits so tight that it just mushed out onto the top skin. Then I'll lube up the skin with motor oil and apply a thin bean leveled at the tape hoping that it doesn't mush out all over the top skin. I'll let it cure for the week and trim it out once the skin comes back off.

I'm looking for a nice clean line of sealant that only sticks to the doubler. If it works out I'll post some pics.

Two layers of black electrical tape seals just fine. No mess, no fuss.

Fan Switch

I think that if you put a switch on the fan that blows out of the back panel floor and turn it off if you encounter rain the in blowing fan would build a slight pressure area and help keep the water out.
Just a thought

Joe D

I've already set up the seal in hopes it turns out the way I hope it will but I have to agree - while setting it up I concluded that this is not a permanent seal - it's something more like when you close off the bay, seal it up. So yes, tape should be just fine. Perhaps replace it if / when you go back in.

If it does work out I'll be happy but if not - tape will do.

MartySantic said:

Two layers of black electrical tape seals just fine. No mess, no fuss.

Click to expand...

Marty, do you cut the tape around the screw holes and how?

Marty - did you do it like my post #26, this thread? Pics there.

Bill_H said:

Marty - did you do it like my post #26, this thread? Pics there.

Click to expand...

Yes, very much the same as shown in Post #26. Two layers as close as possible to the screw holes but not over the hole.

Very happy with how my second attempt at sealing the avionics bay went.

This is what I did:
1) Put down 3 layers of painters tape to just aft that the screw holes and hit the area I wanted the sealant to stick to with some abrasive paper.
2) Cleaned that up with Acetone then oiled up the top skin with HD Synthetic transmission oil.
3) Put down a layer of the black sealant and leveled that to the tape and screwed everything together then waited a week.
4) Pulled it apart (came right off - thanks Harley) and laid down another piece of tape to use as a guide to trim the sealant with the edge of the 3 layers below.

It looks great and it's really stuck on there. I don't think there would be any problem with using electrical tape other than your going to replace it at some point since that stuff always comes up. Having said that, most likely may replace the seal I made at some point too as it ages.

In any event - I was attempting to use the method outlined in installing the rear window and using fuel sealant and tape to get nice clean edges. The three layers of tape should give the seal enough rise to compress once reassembled.

You can see the seal on the blog in the link below. If any masters of adding pics to this board want to copy and post feel free.