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Prime or paint underneath carpets?

jetset44

Member
Got a question for the group. For those of you that installed the optional Flightline Interior, did you prime or paint the floors and sidewalls underneath? My plan right now is to prime and paint the entire cockpit area including the areas covered by the carpets, thinking that will provide better wear and corrosion resistance in these high-wear areas. But I’m beginning to wonder if that’s really worth the weight/time/cost, and whether spraying primer only (no paint) or maybe even leaving the Alclad skins bare would be good enough for structure covered by carpets. I’ll still prime and paint all parts not covered by the carpets, of course.

Same question goes for the fuel tank—are there reasons why it should be primed or painted when it will be mostly covered by the baggage area carpet?

Would appreciate hearing any thoughts or experiences from other builders!

Steve
 
I chose to prime and paint everything in the interior one piece at a time before installing. My reasons were not knowing what areas might show between the fabric interior parts, like the fuel tank. Also, should I decide for some reason down the road to remove some of the fabric interior panels, I didn’t want the bare metal showing. Just my rationale and direction I chose to take.
 
Personally, I'm leaving anything thats going to be covered by interior bare. If I lived on the coast I might reconsider, but there are literally tens of thousands of 70 year old airplanes out there with nothing under the carpet but shiny aluminum.

If it starts to look like its wearing through the alclad, it will likely be around 50 years down the road and since I'll be 104 years old at that point, the next guy can decide what corrosion protection he want to use.
 
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I'm still in process on my fuse but I'm also painting essentially everything in the interior as I go. I'm also installing all of the options available for interior trim. A few things lead me down this path, all just personal preferences for how I wanted my airplane to be when completed. The majority of my interior is being painted with Jetflex WR, but I have done all of the 'floor surfaces' from firewall to rear bulkhead in a dark grey textured mutli-color rattle can.

The rest of my build is not primed. The lower center section of the fuse is primed because I used that as a warm up for getting my prep, prime, and paint process planned out and well rehearsed before I get to the interior parts. I stay in the 'make your own decision' when it comes to priming or not and I don't think it's necessary in the areas you are asking about. The only suggestion I would make is that it's just a few pieces and they may present you with an opportunity to practice with whatever paint you will use elsewhere on actual airplane parts. Test spray some scrap, then setup your process on and go through it on the floor pieces. They are a good place to do your first painting, if they aren't perfect you aren't going to see them but in general they will match or coordinate with the rest of your interior.
 

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P.....Pr......Priming......

Well, huh.... This is a variation on the Primer War Threads...

Carpet can be a collector of moisture from the environment, leaks or carless passengers. And that can cause corrosion. I have inspected several Spam Cans that came from the coast that are now in a dry environment and have corrosion in carpeted areas that started in that humid environment. I have seen enough corrosion in wings (again, costal airplanes but not always) that my interior is primed. It does not have to be a heavy coat. It would be WAY easier to just prime those areas now than trying to do it with the airplane put together.

Do NOT put foam insulation under the carpet. There are photos in this forum of floor pans that have rotted away....:eek:

Do you care what your airplane will look like in 75 years? My Cub was born in 1946 and has been well taken care of since. When you pass it on to the Next Keeper, you will want them to have a good airplane.....that you built.....

IMHO.........

Photo: my A&P inspecting the tail of the fuselage while I am making modifications..... You can see the LIGHT layer of primer.....
 

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YMMV, but I primed everything with Akzo Nobel primer. Very light weight, super fast drying, and tough as nails. It's probably been 5 or 6 years since I primed the floors and they still look brand new. I'm with Roadjunkie on this one. It would be pretty easy to get some moisture under there and not notice. The foam fills up the channels and the carpet is over the top - you'd never see it unless you took it all out. For me that's once a year during my condition inspection. Once you start getting corrosion on aluminum it is hard to stop.

Prior to finishing my -9 I was a partner in a 1970 Cherokee. It had been lightly primed with what looked like zinc chromate. It was almost transparent in a lot of places. After 50 years still no corrosion. Cheap insurance. If you do it as you go (I primed before riveting anything) it's pretty easy.
 
One of those individual preferences. Paint and primer equal weight, time, and money. And probably corrosion and abrasion resistance.

Make a choice and move on. ;-) You'll probably be happy either way.
 
Thank you all for the great feedback! Like so many things with building airplanes, I know there isn't a wrong or right decision on this one--just matters of preference. I hadn't thought about the carpets retaining moisture, that's a really good point. So I think I'll stick with my original plan to lightly prime and paint the entire cockpit interior.

Still curious to hear if anyone has any thoughts about the fuel tank, since it's a unique aspect of the RV-12. I'll definitely prime the outside of it even though most of it is covered by carpet, but are there any reasons why it may be better or worse to paint the fuel tank?
 
Another thing you may find is the paint is all messed up when the brake reservoir leaks as mine did and didn't know it till I pulled up the carpet and the foam padding. (I didn't build this one) The T-fitting came loose at the back of the reservoir and dribbled all down the firewall. I had only had to add a small amount of fluid a couple of times in 3 years.
A whole bunch of paint was all curled up under all that.
The takeaway is if the carpet and what ever is under it isn't easily removeable for inspection the paint doesn't so anything but add weight. The bare aluminum looks great though.
I'm not repainting the bare areas.
My three cents worth. Art
 
Paint

My 12 is zinc chromate primed and a good rattle can finish over that. It will be flown near the ocean a lot. When I started the 12 build, I weighted 236 - now weigh 175. My goal is 165. I did this for health reasons. I'm 71" tall. I don't expect to have the fastest, best looking or best 12 in the fleet but I hope that my 12 and I last a long and happy time.
 
Aircraft....and...um...fuselage weight....

My 12 is zinc chromate primed and a good rattle can finish over that. It will be flown near the ocean a lot. When I started the 12 build, I weighted 236 - now weigh 175. My goal is 165. I did this for health reasons. I'm 71" tall. I don't expect to have the fastest, best looking or best 12 in the fleet but I hope that my 12 and I last a long and happy time.

CONGRATULATIONS on the weight loss! That is significant! I am a competitive cyclist and one of the best ways to go faster is reducing the weight of the "engine:".

An interior that is primed with a light coat is not going to add that much weight to the aircraft and will make it last longer. Come pop some inspection hole covers in a few airplanes with me if you want to see the result of not being primed.

RV-12: Good choice for a long and happy future!!
 
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