voretaq7
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- Jun 30, 2011
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I recently became the proud new owner of a 1965 Cherokee 180C which has spent most of its recent life hangared. It's first week on our ramp we had a few good rain storms, and I've hunted down a few of the usual Cherokee leaks, and I was hoping someone who had been through the process of trying to plug these leaks could offer some advice.
The Doors (cabin & baggage) -- should be an easy fix.
I've ordered replacement seals from Aircraft Spruce which seem to have worked well for everyone based on what I've seen in all the Piper forums. I expect to spend an afternoon de-gooping the doors & installing the new seal.
The co-pilot's window - Looks pretty easy too.
Just a bit of water coming from behind the trim -- It looks like if I remove the trim panel I can get in there with 3M window caulk strips from Spruce and re-pack the frame. so it doesn't leak anymore.
I expect to have to do a little corrosion cleanup behind the trim too...
The overhead vent -- I'm a little stumped on this one.
The overhead vent is the circular one that goes right to the top of the plane under a little hood - Good design for keeping the rain out, except when the plane is on the ground and the wind drives the rain from tail to spinner. I'm not sure this is "fixable", but I'm thinking a plug to block the hole would work best?
The cabin vents (mainly the "cabin vent" knob on the panel that opens a door under the panel).
The area around the vent seems to have stayed dry in this round of weather, but I'm a little concerned about the design. Am I worrying about nothing, or if not does anyone have experience installing seals for these vents? It strikes me as an alteration that would require an A&P to sign off since it doesn't seem that Piper intended for there to be seals here...
Anything I'm missing? - there probably is, so any thoughts / pointers on places to look would definitely be appreciated
The Doors (cabin & baggage) -- should be an easy fix.
I've ordered replacement seals from Aircraft Spruce which seem to have worked well for everyone based on what I've seen in all the Piper forums. I expect to spend an afternoon de-gooping the doors & installing the new seal.
The co-pilot's window - Looks pretty easy too.
Just a bit of water coming from behind the trim -- It looks like if I remove the trim panel I can get in there with 3M window caulk strips from Spruce and re-pack the frame. so it doesn't leak anymore.
I expect to have to do a little corrosion cleanup behind the trim too...
The overhead vent -- I'm a little stumped on this one.
The overhead vent is the circular one that goes right to the top of the plane under a little hood - Good design for keeping the rain out, except when the plane is on the ground and the wind drives the rain from tail to spinner. I'm not sure this is "fixable", but I'm thinking a plug to block the hole would work best?
The cabin vents (mainly the "cabin vent" knob on the panel that opens a door under the panel).
The area around the vent seems to have stayed dry in this round of weather, but I'm a little concerned about the design. Am I worrying about nothing, or if not does anyone have experience installing seals for these vents? It strikes me as an alteration that would require an A&P to sign off since it doesn't seem that Piper intended for there to be seals here...
Anything I'm missing? - there probably is, so any thoughts / pointers on places to look would definitely be appreciated
