Leak on the top of the windscreen

[Pierre Hulin]

Hi

I experience a small leak. I guess it comes from the top of the windscreen because water falls directly on the compass. Does anyone has an advice about the correct material to provide a perfect watertighness ?

Thank you

Pierre Hulin

[N3322G]

Pierre,

Ah yes, have had this one a couple of times in 41 years. silicon caulk was used to repair each time. There are different techniques ... I am no expert and have not done it myslef but here is what I have seen -

Paint shop - gently loosened the center of the outside of the top of the cabin and gently forced in the caulk then tightened the screws again.

Two different maintenance shops just added silicone caulk on the outside - I now know that if you do this, it can look shabbyy in no time but is definitely the easiest and least risk.

There are paintable and non-paintable caulks so if you do the exterior stuff, you might want to select what makes the most sense to you.

Hope this helps and hope others chime in

[MULEFLY]

Pat describes the proper technique, but Cliff at Heritage Aero cautioned me not to use a silicone based caulk.... his instruction was to use a latex based caulk. Using the technique that Pat described and the latex caulk... I have successfully sealed mine that was leaking after a new window install.

All the best!
Jim

[N3322G]

Pierre - if the screws have been painted in, rather than just unscrewing and willy-nilly breaking the paint, you might use an exacto-knife to break the paint at the base of the screw for a more even paint line. Warning, this takes a steady hand and may or may not work as the depth of paint at the joining of the screw and the fuselage may still cause it to chip. If chipping does occur, I've seen folks use a toothpick and matching paint provided by the paint shop to repair a paint chip.

Hope this helps.

[Jay]

Just don't do what a shop that I no longer use did. When I asked them to seal the windscreen with caulk, they used proseal. No it doesn't leak, but it looks cruddy and will be a PIA when the windscreen needs to come out.

Jay