Fiberglassing the doors/seals

[dhmoose]

I've read all the posts about the infamous doors and McMaster seals and it seems like everyone is in agreement that attention must be paid to developing a consistent gap between the cabin cover and the door for ideal compression of the seal. It looks like most people did this by altering and adding the thickness to the cabin cover/gutter/flange area. My question is, why not add some glass to the doors themselves and then blend it in. It seems like it would be easier to work on the door versus the cabin cover. Of course, if the gap is too narrow, sanding material away from the cabin cover might be the better approach versus thinning the door. Am I missing something or is this a preference thing?

 

[Wayne Gillispie]

I can't recall building up the cabin flange on top or outside, but I sure did take it down on top a bunch. Which meant building up on the underside. A good 1/4-5/16" gap all the way around has worked great for my McM seals. Now I need to cover my door hinge pockets, where my wife gets her hair sucked out during flight.

 

[N15JB]

I agree with Wayne. You are going to have to take off a lot of material from the cabin flange to get the doors to close enough for the outer surface of the doors to be flush with the fuselage and to establish your gap on the inner face of the doors. The only reasons to build the cabin flange up is if you take off too much material, or if you need the establish an edge for the seals to fit over.

Jim Berry

 

[douglassmt]

Go slow

Just go slow. Measure, measure, sand, measure, measure, fill. Repeat. You get the idea.

You could add or remove from the door side, but I think if you go slow and remove from the cabin side you won't need to do so except perhaps to fine tune. I found a sliver of a gap in my door seals in the video of my first flight, so I might add a little bit to the door side to close the gap. Not enough to pass any wind, so it's aesthetics only so far.

 

[Bill.Peyton]

Because you are taking so much off the door frame you need to replace it on the inside. While you are doing this you also need to add to the inside edge in order to get the seal further out on to the door. Yu should also reinforce the INSIDE area of the door frame since you have removed so much from the lip. This adds back to the thickness. It's really a pain and takes quite a bit of time, but when you get done it is far better then the Vans provided junk seal.

 

[rleffler]

Because you are taking so much off the door frame you need to replace it on the inside. While you are doing this you also need to add to the inside edge in order to get the seal further out on to the door. Yu should also reinforce the INSIDE area of the door frame since you have removed so much from the lip. This adds back to the thickness. It's really a pain and takes quite a bit of time, but when you get done it is far better then the Vans provided junk seal.

To further highlight was Bill was saying, the rain gutter around the door does add structual strength to the cabin cover. Just like any ninety degree angle would do in a support. Since we are removing this, addiing material to inside the door helps to off set that support, as well as making the door frame the appropriate size for the trim to fit securely.