SB 13-12-12 Water proofing?

[ben barron]

I installed the Permatex as noted in SB `3-12-12 while I was building the fuselage. Now, 6 months later getting ready to install my avionics I tried to remove the F1240 Upper Forward Fuselage skin and it is not moving, like welded. Is there a chemical release agent or a method you are aware of that can help me, I do not want to bend anything. Is it possible to install the Dynon system leaving the Upper Forward Fuselage skin in place?:

[MacPara]

I assume this is the avionics bay cover. I'd use a sharp (new) hobby knife or a razor blade to slowly cut towards the cover skin. That way there might be enough sealant left on the firewall flange that it would still seal when screwing it back in place.
If you are sure you put release agent on the inside of the cover, you might be able to separate it by using a thin, dull tool like a chip chaser or such.

[tomkk]

A sharpened putty knife might be useful.

[RFSchaller]

I coated the cover overlap at the edge with a light film of engine oil before installing. Mine came off fairly easily the next time I removed it and left the sealant on the opposing face.

[ben barron]

putty knife and brute force worked, thanks

[peter52]

Saw a product at Harbor Freight today called ProSeal clear RTV silicone adhesive and sealant #N80066....anyone tried that product? Any thoughts about how it would do the job of sealing the avionics bay?

[MartySantic]

Used two layers of electrical tape as suggested previously. Works! No mess.

[Godo]

This week we flew up to the AERO show in Friedrichshafen (Germany) from Barcelona (Spain). A real cross countr(ies), along France and Switzerland...

I completed the SB on time and protected throroughly the instrument pannel cover, sealing it acoording to the instructions.

In the south of France we were flying under a heavy rain for about 15 minutes, and a couple of drops of water entered the cockpit though the passenger side.
Few nm later the layout of the screens in the Dynon started dancing, changing from one layout to the next every other second (as if I was pressing the key constantly).

After a couple of minutes of "exciting" trip, the layout stop and I could go to my usual display set.

Following came a new surprise, when a controller asked to recycle my transponder, and there was no way to set the number "5" in the code. Trip continued in VFR code (7000 in Europe) uneventfully, till we land in EDNY.

After landing, I secured the plane in the ground and used the Vans grey cover. What this RV12 enjoyed then, were 36 consecutive hours of rain outside of a hangar. (I had a couple of bad nights of sleep).

Saturday the skies cleared and we decided to fly back home.

Earlier in this thread Jack Netherlands (Hotscam) talked about all sorts of failures after a heavy rain, that dissapeared after the avionics dryed out.
Well, there was no joy here... My key "5" of the transponder code was still a challenge. What was worse was that the FPL couldn?t be set to "Navigate", as if the option was not available in the Software! (I followed the trip setting a D-> every other airport till we landed home).

After landing I realised that all three issues (Navigate, Layout and code 5) do use the same button in the Dynon, so I convinced myself of a water damage in that button.

...but it appears, that is the same button that we used to set the FPL, the Xponder, the Code setting, etc... and these work perfectly! So it looks like if the rain just damaged few bytes of programing code...

I?ll continue my drying work, and as soon as the new version 12.x is launched I?ll update to see what comes out of it...

In the meantime, any clues out there?

Godo

[WingedFrog]

Thank you Gogo for sharing your experience with rain in flight. What is particularly interesting for this community is that it happened after applying the avionics shelf sealing SB. There is a leak somewhere and you need to locate it. It may not be along the seal of the SB. You did not mention if you opened the avionic's cover to trace the leak. It is what I would do and if no trace is left I would close it back and hose the plane before reopening it. I don't see any other way to solve this from a preventive stand point. If you have permanent damage on the Skyview you will need to work with Dynon. Goog luck in your investigation.

[Hotscam]

Looks like an exciting trip you did.
I also flew to the show on tuesday and left thursday morning as the weather predictions looked pretty bad as you experienced.
I had great weather and beautiful trip.

My biggest water ingress came through the bending holes of the side panels of the dash which I did not seal properly. No more problems after plenty of RTV.
i also experienced ingress after leaving it in heavy rain for a few days but after the top seal trick as per Vans and the canopy cover also covering the fwd rim this is solved. Nothing comes in when flying.
Whenever water gets on the instrument tray it creeps up against the forward side of the panel when the plane excellerates. This may harm the panel buttons as you experienced.
I drilled several drain holes in the instrument tray to make sure that in case ever water gets in it drips on my legs and not into the avionics.

The canopy hinges always leak a bit despite all the things I did to stop it.
In heavy rain it will come in but it will not harm anything.