My 2013 RV-12 was built by someone other than me. I just bought it. I live in Maine. Its been down in the single digits lateley. My canopy leaks like a blast furnace, but with cold air. There is a STRONG blast that comes in just on top of the ignition switch, magneto switch area. There is another BLAST on the co-pilot side where the canopy meets the metal. I can see a 1/4 inch gap between the canopy and the roll bar in the area behind me head and the co-pilots head. Visable daylight in that gap. Even with a parka I'm cold because it's blasts right in my face. There is some foam insulation in areas but clearly that is not doing it. The Canopy Seal kit from Van's is currently not available. Has anyone else in the cold climate dealt with this and if so, how? Thanks
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My RV-12 has air conditioning! Need help shutting it off.
- Thread starter glenadavis
- Start date
The assembly instructions section 39 will show you all the seals that are supposed to be in place. That might be a good place to start. Some of them are basically just foam tape if you can't get them from Van's.
Thank you.
rcarsey
Well Known Member
Well.. At least for the RV-12iS, a LOT of air comes in where the wing spars enter the fuselage -- even with the wing root seals in place. You can feel it in flight if you stick your hand by the spars. I've tried to cover up the holes in the rear wing spar (where the leading edge of the flaperons are) thinking that air was getting in there and travelling through the wing -- that wasn't any help.
So my solution was to put some foam stuff from Home Depot on the spar.. If you put too much foam, the wing won't slide in very easily.. so its a little trial and error.. but this has helped cut down on the air coming in by about 80%. The rest of the air, I assume is coming in from the main landing gear legs. I also put up a sheet of heat-shrink window plastic just behind the seats -- that will redirect the cold air away from your butt and legs. I'm ok flying in jeans and a jacket down to about -4C during the night (no greenhouse heating) -- though sometimes i throw a very thin microfiber blanket over my legs during long xctry flights. My right hand still gets very cold when I leave it by the base of the throttle though..
So my solution was to put some foam stuff from Home Depot on the spar.. If you put too much foam, the wing won't slide in very easily.. so its a little trial and error.. but this has helped cut down on the air coming in by about 80%. The rest of the air, I assume is coming in from the main landing gear legs. I also put up a sheet of heat-shrink window plastic just behind the seats -- that will redirect the cold air away from your butt and legs. I'm ok flying in jeans and a jacket down to about -4C during the night (no greenhouse heating) -- though sometimes i throw a very thin microfiber blanket over my legs during long xctry flights. My right hand still gets very cold when I leave it by the base of the throttle though..
Do you have a picture of the window plastic sheet?
rcarsey
Well Known Member
I don't have photos... but here's where i put down the thing double-sided tape for it. Usually a pack from home depot has enough to let u do it at least 3 times.. Last year I heat-shunk it.. but this year, I didn't bother.
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