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Penelope, here in the Northeast most planes are tied down outside.
Hangar space is limited and expensive.
There are common places where rain gets in our little 150s and 152s.
Hung has some great insight as to where the trouble spots are.


Seal this cover.

Hi Penelope,

It was in the glove box! It's basically a glorified sticky note. Aircraft Spruce has some, but they are plastic. I'm not sure of the regs, but maybe just writing on a sticky note will work. Someone on the forum would know.



This is the first winter it has been in the open hanger. Initially I was concerned, but no issues at all. Actually last winter it was in a big unheated hanger and condensation was a issue. My hunch is yours is leaking somewhere. Several years ago, mine was leaking through the back window. A little caulk solved that.

Pete

Hi Penelope.

I would not say it is "normal," but a lot of 150's do get wet. Our 150, when it was tied down, always got wet in the rain, even with a canopy cover (although the cover helped). I went out with a friend and he helped me caulk the back windows. This was a mistake as the caulk kind of made a mess that is still there and the airplane still leaked. I found out from other folks here what the problem really was. There are two inspection panels, one on top of each wing, immediately adjacent to the cockpit at the rear of the wing. I think these are flap mechanism inspection panels, but no matter. Anyway, they are supposed to be removed for inspection at annual, and often the sealant does not get replaced when they are reinstalled. If your airplane is in a hangar (as ours is now), you would not necessarily have to fix it (I didn't). If you plan to tie down when you travel, etc., you may want to fix it to keep the water out. Damp rid works very well to dry everything out, but be careful as it is pretty caustic.

Once all the website transfer for the Club is completed, the search function should start working again and you will be able to find a LOT of help for issues like this on the site.

By the way, did you get your battery/starter issue resolved?

My C150 has been hangared since my purchase 21 years ago. The only times that it would be outside was when we went to our condo in Palm Springs in late August it doesn't rain in August.

Recently I needed to park the plane outside for a few days while I moved stuff (technical term) around in the hangar. It rained steadily those two days. When I brought the plane back into the hangar I noticed that the carpeting was wet, so I removed the carpeting so that it could dry. Searching the internet I found that there are fairings that fill the space between the end of the flaps and the fuselage underneath those fairings are the cables for the flaps and ailerons. If the fairings are not sealed to the wings, then water can get in soak the carpet. I removed those fairing and found that there had been at least two previous attempts to seal the fairing to the wing. I checked AS&A and found this https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/windowsealant.php which I used to cauk the fairings to the fuselage. We just need some rain now to check if it works.

I am now praying for rain, and I am praying that the plane doesn't leak anymore.

Hey All,

Looks like I have found a Champ in Sebring, FL. KSEF Looking for someone to do a pre-buy. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Pete

Thank you. I only saw this reply now. Will give it a try.

Thank you. I will talk with A&P about this. He'll be so happy.

Sorry, thanks for the reply, yes, my husband and I installed it. If you knew us, you'd be laughing. Husband almost electrocuted himself so we must have done something wrong. I handled the baking soda, managed to clog up the battery box drain. We were pretty proud of ourselves, fired up the master and all the lights were brighter. lol. The new battery fixed the non starting immediately after flying problem.

Penny

Condo in PS? Was just there for Christmas. Lived in Indio for a long time, and OC. Would like to go out now and fly around looking at the wild flowers. Penny

OK, will nag A&P about caulking.