AdamJD Posted August 30, 2022 Report Posted August 30, 2022 Unfortunately I have to keep my new-to-me '67 M20F outside due to lack of hangar space. I have it covered with a brand-new Bruce's extended canopy cover which goes from the spinner to mid-tail. I stopped by today to tinker with stuff and found a puddle of water under the plane, mid fuselage. I could see it dripping slowly from one of the belly panels between the main gear. See purple highlighted circle to show where it is dripping from. It had rained fairly steady for a few hours about 7-8 hours prior to me stopping by. Again, I have the plane covered from spinner to mid-tail, so I am stumped by where the rain could have gotten into the plane. Anything behind the cover would have to defy gravity and travel uphill. Anything else would have to either penetrate the cover, or come from one of the wings. Aside from the few inspection panels on the wings, I'm not sure where water could enter. And the inspection panels look tight. Any thoughts or ideas?? Anyone experience this before? Thanks! Adam Quote
carusoam Posted August 30, 2022 Report Posted August 30, 2022 Nice pic… I trust your description of where the water is…. But… Now, How about one of the plane with its cover…? Do you know there is a water drain for the air vent at the top? That vent is often connected to a pvc tube to the bottom… Does your cover have witches’ hats over them, or big holes to allow the antennas to poke through? Find your drain, see if it is connected… often, the rain enters cabin from a loose drain tube… and only leaves small hints like a drop here or there…. Best regards, -a- Quote
carusoam Posted August 30, 2022 Report Posted August 30, 2022 That appears to be a lot of liquid… on an otherwise dry surface… There shouldn’t be any water collecting in a Mooney to have it drain out at a later time… Start reviewing the several drain locations… to help eliminate what and where that liquid is… and what it’s source is… Wing and tail cone drains are relatively easy to find… tail cone drains are easy to block when a bird moves in…. Strong winds can make water appear in strange places… like inside the static system… Best regards, -a- Quote
47U Posted August 30, 2022 Report Posted August 30, 2022 25 minutes ago, AdamJD said: Any thoughts or ideas?? There’s duct tape underneath the wing-to-body fairings on top of the wings. I suspect it might be time to remove the fairings and inspect the tape for serviceability. 1 Quote
carusoam Posted August 30, 2022 Report Posted August 30, 2022 +1 for how well the original duct tape held up… Duct tape today for real aluminum ducts is completely different… It may be easier to view the duct tape health from inside the cabin, behind the panels…. If it helps to determine where the water is getting in… I think Byron has pics about replacing the old duct tape… (old fuzzy memories…) Best regards, -a- 1 Quote
AdamJD Posted August 30, 2022 Author Report Posted August 30, 2022 37 minutes ago, carusoam said: Nice pic… I trust your description of where the water is…. But… Now, How about one of the plane with its cover…? Do you know there is a water drain for the air vent at the top? That vent is often connected to a pvc tube to the bottom… Does your cover have witches’ hats over them, or big holes to allow the antennas to poke through? Find your drain, see if it is connected… often, the rain enters cabin from a loose drain tube… and only leaves small hints like a drop here or there…. Best regards, -a- Sorry for the lack of additional pictures. The plane is 40 mins from the house and I thought of taking a bigger picture about 30 mins after I left the airport :). However, the cover doesn't have any holes. It's the witches hat kind covering the single antenna on top. Also, I had the air scoop drain tested previously when I noticed water getting in the cockpit. The air scoop drain worked as expected. The source of cockpit water turned out to be the door and I've since fixed the seal. That and the new cover have kept the rain out of the cockpit, which remained perfectly dry today. However, I hadn't thought that tail or wing drains being plugged could cause pooling into the mid-belly between the gear. I can check those next time out. Any idea on how to check them safely? Pipe cleaner or something similar? I'll also check the wing-to-body fairings for tape. That was my only other guess of how the water got to the belly, but the cover is right over the edge of those. So I would have thought it would have made the water just run down the wings. Lastly, this was definitely water. I all but tasted it. Consistency and smell of plain water. Quote
carusoam Posted August 30, 2022 Report Posted August 30, 2022 There are two access panels on the side of the tail cone… The big rectangular one, and small round one under the elevator… If needing to clean them out… that was the route I went… Testing their drain ability… I sent water down the tail opening where the control rods are… also right where the bird nest showed up… If stored outside… expect light dust and dirt to accumulate…. So bring your soap and water and sponge…. Make sure everything is aluminum safe… some cleaners are not. Poking around the drain holes… soft plastic, light twig, something not rigid or hard that could scratch the paint around the hole… They are just simple holes… Be careful at the bottom of the tail cone…. Is the tail light wire and other wires depending on what you have going out to the tail… Pp thoughts only, -a- Quote
Mooney in Oz Posted August 30, 2022 Report Posted August 30, 2022 Have you recently flown through rain? Quote
65MooneyPilot Posted August 30, 2022 Report Posted August 30, 2022 I don’t know if I would be overly concerned about water dripping out of the airplane after a rain. The fact that the water is draining is a good sign. I have worked on a lot of planes and they all drip water in or after a rain. The worst one was a 727. I was changing a tire on the right main gear and of course it was raining. It was a waterfall right over the tire. I would just make sure all the drain holes are clear and hopefully your name will come up on the hangar list quickly. 1 Quote
AdamJD Posted August 30, 2022 Author Report Posted August 30, 2022 3 hours ago, 65MooneyPilot said: they all drip water in or after a rain. Thanks 65MooneyPilot! I'm a new plane owner, so *everything* concerns me ;). However, what was troubling was that it was 7-8 hours after the rain and still was actively but slowly dripping. Which means some significant pooling. I won't lose too much sleep, but I'm going to check that all my drains are functioning. I suspect something is backed up. 1 Quote
carusoam Posted August 31, 2022 Report Posted August 31, 2022 Keep asking questions… Know that winter makes water collections a bit harder… Always point a prop blade down, on an angle, to allow water to escape the spinner, and not collect on the blade on top either… Ice in the spinner can really delay a flight…. PP thoughts only… -a- Quote
PT20J Posted August 31, 2022 Report Posted August 31, 2022 It shouldn’t leak that much. If it were mine, I’d take it to the wash rack and use a hose to find out where the water is getting in. Quote
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