Where is the water getting in?

[Curlytips]

My buddy and I have different models of Cessna 172 parked side by side outside. Both have the best covers available, which cover cockpit completely. Only the very bottom of each door is exposed. Anywhere I can think of is covered, so I just can't work out how damp can get in. Today we both found our carpets wet. Any Cessna experts know how the rain is getting in?:confused:

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Doesn't the 172 fuselage floor slope downhill (gently, but still downhill) from tailplane to cabin? Could rain be entering in the tailcone by the elevator, and running down inside the fuselage to the carpets?

[ChickenHouse]

Are you certain it is rain dropping in? Does it change with pressure in the nose wheel damper? Is the cabin too tightly closed and this is water condensation?

[Big Pistons Forever]

I have never seen a high wing Cessna that did not leak.......

[Curlytips]

That could figure because the carpet behind front seats is certainly damp. Guess I need to check under rear seat and luggage bay. Maybe it all drifts downhill. But if so, how do I seal / protect the aperture(s) at the back? (Without the expense of hangarage)?

[JHO]

Make a small wooden ramp, only a few inches high to biased the fall the other way. Could incorporate a chock as well, two birds one stone!

[9 lives]

I have never succeeded in stopping the leaks in my C 150M. I beat the problem by building a hangar, and that solved it. Good luck, I've given up!

[Maoraigh1]

Not a Cessna expert, but we had water get into a Jodel DR1050 parked tail downslope, with cover over cockpit. We found water in the heater air hose - it had come in the intake, and flooded over into the cabin. Into wind and air intake not covered/open?

[Pirke]

When you put it outside after flying, and you had the cabin heater on, then the cabin was nice and warm. Warm air can contain much more moist than dry air. When you get out and leave it for the night, then everything cools down below dew point and all the water vapor stops being vapor... the rest is gravity.

At least that's how my car get's damp inside each morning...

[Tinstaafl]

Are the drain holes at each fuselage frame clear? Have you left any vents open? You might have to remove the interior & use chalk dust to trace the H2O path.

[phiggsbroadband]

You should be able to empty most of the water out by doing a vertical climb....

[150 Driver]

A vertical climb in a 172 ?

[Mach Jump]

A vertical climb in a 172 ?

Yes.

That, together with the tail first, vertical descent that will immediately follow, will, at least temporarily, push damp carpets a very long way down your priority list! :eek:

This is of course, best performed close to the ground, where the resulting high speed impact/fire will provide an immediate, and permanent solution. ;)

Ps. H+S Notice: This post is for entertainment purposes only, and not intended to seriously suggest a practical cure for damp carpets.

PPs. Sorry this doesn't help, but I was just reading Part. FCL and I needed a lift. :O

[Germstone]

wing closeout panels where they wrap up around the top of the screen...worth a look:ok:

[A and C]

Try sealing the INBD and FWD edges of the training edge to Fuselarge panels, there is a big hole under them for the Aleron cables to pass through.

This may reduce the problem but the only leak proof Cessna is the one parked in a hangar.

[RatherBeFlying]

Us glider folks tape over the wing/fuselage junctions, mine spends nights in a trailer where water seems no get in by the door, but not on the glider. The parachute no longer stays there:\

As I faintly recall, high wing Cessnas generally have a metal strip covering the wing/fuselage junction. Good luck waterproofing that:ugh:

The glider folks have access to various tapes that work well and possibly will not remove the paint when they come off. But how much room is there between the cover strip and the rivet line?