Keeping a Slingsby T61 outside all year

[pa28r driver]

if i keep a t61 outside all year under covers does anybody know of any real problems,looking for any negative and PROVEN problems
best regards pete

[Mark 1]

There's a group owned one at Enstone kept outside with full covers.
I wasn't aware that they had any particular problems. May be worth trying to contact them through Oxfordshire Sportsflying.

[Pilot DAR]

I suggest that covers are best applied only when you are trying to prevent physical contamination or damage (Frost, Ice, Snow, Hail -though not too effective for hail). My experience has been that unless the covers are perfectly fitted, so as to have no loose or flapping sections, the wind will make the cover buffet, and take the shine off the paint. If elastic cords with plastic (or worse metal) hooks are used to secure them, they too will flap in the breeze and definately cause damage. The guy who owned my plane before me used covers all the time, and the underside of my ailerons look like they have been slightly peened thousands of times where the hooks used to buffet. There wer also many "chafe" marks where the cover had been abrading the shine off the paint while buffetting.

You'll see the windshield covers which are so nicely fitted to the shape of the windshield and associated airframe. If they are clean themselves, and installed on very clean windows (so there are no abrasive dirty particles in there), they work well, and are worth the effort.

For the airframe, as long as the paint is in good condition, and protected with appropriate "wax", I would restrict the covers only to keeping the birds out, and protecting for the aforementioned weather abuses. If the paint is not so good, I really would not worry about it!