Did you use weatherstrip around the landing light or nav light lenses?

[Desert Rat]

The Duckworks style leading edge lenses don't seem to have any provision for a gasket of any sort around the perimeter of the lens. Neither do the Vans wingtip lens. In both cases, it seems like there would be prime opportunity for water and dirt to get in there and wreak all sorts of havoc, especially now that everything has gone to LEDs with presumably non-waterproof circuit boards integrated.

On the other hand, any kind of gasket is going to cause the leading edge lens to be recessed and the wingtip lenses to protrude by the thickness of the gasket. Back in the olden days, we would have smeared everything with PVA and added neat fillet of pro seal, but those were the days of glass strobe lenses as well, which is obviously not the case on RV's

What are people doing here, if anything?

 

[Stoo]

The Duckworks style leading edge lenses don't seem to have any provision for a gasket of any sort around the perimeter of the lens. Neither do the Vans wingtip lens. In both cases, it seems like there would be prime opportunity for water and dirt to get in there and wreak all sorts of havoc, especially now that everything has gone to LEDs with presumably non-waterproof circuit boards integrated.

On the other hand, any kind of gasket is going to cause the leading edge lens to be recessed and the wingtip lenses to protrude by the thickness of the gasket. Back in the olden days, we would have smeared everything with PVA and added neat fillet of pro seal, but those were the days of glass strobe lenses as well, which is obviously not the case on RV's

What are people doing here, if anything?

I did nothing so far but thought I would try a thin bead of peelable caulk ( eg. Dap Peel N' Seal) at some point.
Stewart Willoughby, 6

 

[D-Dubya]

I don't have a seal on the Duckworks landing light or on the wingtip recess for the Whelen strobe/nav lights. The strobes are made to be exposed to the weather, so no worries there. Currently I have a Whelen LED landing light on the Duckworks mount as well, and it's sealed. But I'm about to upgrade to the FlyLEDs landing lights. Hadn't really thought about sealing anything, but it's a valid question. The FlyLEDs web site says this: "They are not specifically waterproof (or very aerodynamic!) so they would need to be mounted behind plexiglass in your DIY creations."

 

[Desert Rat]

I don't have a seal on the Duckworks landing light or on the wingtip recess for the Whelen strobe/nav lights. The strobes are made to be exposed to the weather, so no worries there. Currently I have a Whelen LED landing light on the Duckworks mount as well, and it's sealed. But I'm about to upgrade to the FlyLEDs landing lights. Hadn't really thought about sealing anything, but it's a valid question. The FlyLEDs web site says this: "They are not specifically waterproof (or very aerodynamic!) so they would need to be mounted behind plexiglass in your DIY creations."

This is the main reason that I asked the question. I'm all FlyLED and I'd hate to get them trashed by simply flying through the rain. The secondary consideration is that I don't want to be continually taking stuff apart to clean dust out of the inside of the lenses.

 

[Paul from Flyleds]

1200+ wingtip Essentials kit and Works kit sales later over the last 9 years and I can tell you that rain doesn't get into these light bays when you're doing 1xx knots, or it seems being stationary on the ground either. Corrosion just hasn't been an issue for the Flyleds kits, in that we haven't been sending out replacement boards or parts for this reason in all this time.
Likewise with the thousands of landing lights we've sold.
The quote above from the website is there because we get asked if our lights will go out in the breeze on a wing strut or in the intake areas as two examples, and the answer is no.

For those that must the Seal N' Peel looks like a good solution, thank you I haven't seen that before. RTV/ silicon/silastic will adhere to the lens and will make life challenging should you ever want to remove the lens.

 

[Dustyone]

1100hrs and I fly through lots of heavy rain, RV-14 style lens are fitted to my aircraft with out seals.
Very little if any moisture gets in.
The performance of the Flyleds continues to be outstanding.
I would say build on or if you are really concerned, layup a sealant with a release agent and enjoy a sealed lens.