Just bought my RV6A and flew it up to NY at the end of September. Didn’t negotiate the NYC ATC great but made it through without breaking any rules or pissing off too many controllers (maybe one was a little annoyed). Realized the need to modernize the cockpit IMMEDIATELY to help with situational awareness in the NYC area and ordered a new panel. Wife got a big promotion and had to go to Japan (bummer, I know) so we spent most of October there.
Unfortunately there are NO hangers in NYC area and I didn’t have a cover for the plane (cover my fault obviously, dumb). Got back last Wednesday and immediately went to the check on the bird and start the work and found the cockpit completely saturated with rain. Every piece of carpet was waterlogged and ruined. Removed all of that and checked deeper. Found about an inch of water sitting in the elevator tunnel (accessed it behind the seats). Got out as much as I could and left it open to dry out.
Then dread set in and I went to check the fuel tanks. Sumped the right tank. No issue. Relief. No water. Sumped the left tank. Relief. Pause. Fuel is clear but has no color. Panic. Dump. Smell. Sump again. Clear. No smell. Pulled 5 testers of “fuel” out. No smell, no color. 6th one finally had the dreaded fuel water separation. Pulled 3 more and finally had clear fuel.
So the question is… where did the water come from? Can it get from the cockpit into the tank?! How did it get into the cockpit (small gap to be fixed where the canopy meets the back window but there is enough overlap the water would have to blow in horizontally)? How did it get in the tank? Tank has a good cap and o-ring. Airplane was fueled on a rainy day but how long would someone have to leave the cap open to get a cup of water in the tank? Since it’s been sumped clear, does anything else need to be done? Drain tanks? Drain tanks and mechanic? Ground test for an hour or so? Any advice would be helpful. Very nervous about flying the bird now. NYC is a big place with very few places to put down that don’t suck for the occupants.
Unfortunately there are NO hangers in NYC area and I didn’t have a cover for the plane (cover my fault obviously, dumb). Got back last Wednesday and immediately went to the check on the bird and start the work and found the cockpit completely saturated with rain. Every piece of carpet was waterlogged and ruined. Removed all of that and checked deeper. Found about an inch of water sitting in the elevator tunnel (accessed it behind the seats). Got out as much as I could and left it open to dry out.
Then dread set in and I went to check the fuel tanks. Sumped the right tank. No issue. Relief. No water. Sumped the left tank. Relief. Pause. Fuel is clear but has no color. Panic. Dump. Smell. Sump again. Clear. No smell. Pulled 5 testers of “fuel” out. No smell, no color. 6th one finally had the dreaded fuel water separation. Pulled 3 more and finally had clear fuel.
So the question is… where did the water come from? Can it get from the cockpit into the tank?! How did it get into the cockpit (small gap to be fixed where the canopy meets the back window but there is enough overlap the water would have to blow in horizontally)? How did it get in the tank? Tank has a good cap and o-ring. Airplane was fueled on a rainy day but how long would someone have to leave the cap open to get a cup of water in the tank? Since it’s been sumped clear, does anything else need to be done? Drain tanks? Drain tanks and mechanic? Ground test for an hour or so? Any advice would be helpful. Very nervous about flying the bird now. NYC is a big place with very few places to put down that don’t suck for the occupants.