Water wings

For general discussion of the Just Aircraft family of aircraft.
Includes: Highlander, Escapade, Summit and SuperSTOL.
Post Reply
User avatar
BDA
Veteran Member
Posts: 707
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2016 11:25 am
Location: Kenai Alaska

Water wings

Post by BDA »

Who has holey wings?

First time out in a rain storm I have water in the wings. Must be from spoilers.

So I drilled some drain holes next to each rib at the trailing edge.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
SuperStol XL Alaskan With Titan 340
N331AK. Shawn Taplin
Wing extensions,Symetrical Airfoil tail ribs (NACA 21)
Mods in progress: Heavier struts, Double slotted flaps
Goal: 15mph no wind
User avatar
BucF16
Veteran Member
Posts: 463
Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:47 am
Location: Alexandria, Ohio

Re: Water wings

Post by BucF16 »

Yep, you need to do that. I'm using the floatplane grommets, Just incase I'm lucky enough to put'er on floats!

Cheers,
Bruce
Bruce Johnson Highlander # 393
"Because I fly, I envy no man on Earth"
Builder web site:
http://www.bruceshighlander.blogspot.com
User avatar
SuperFly
Veteran Member
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:20 pm
Location: Flanagan, IL
Contact:

Re: Water wings

Post by SuperFly »

I melted holes in the fabric tape (where doubled up layers) beside each rib with a cheapo soldering iron. Worked great. The few times it was in the rain, it drained right out, and caused no ill effects. I did decide once when knowing it was supposed to rain to cover spoiler openings with painters tape to keep rain out. Seemed to work pretty good. Put a big ol' note on the panel and the start switch warning of the unusual situtation. I did remove it during preflight, so ended up no necessarily needing note, but made me feel better.
Best,
Ben Schneider
Highlander #263 converted to SuperSTOL
N45FT Now Flying!
http://www.stolairplane.com
User avatar
CanadianSheepHunter
Veteran Member
Posts: 678
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:05 pm

Re: Water wings

Post by CanadianSheepHunter »

I was actually just reading "Tips and Tricks" from Oratex and they say to make sure to have drain holes because there is a chance the Oratex is so air tight that if you went to a very high altitude on a hot day the air pressure inside the fabric covered compartments could expand enough to have fabric ballon
User avatar
R Rinker
Veteran Member
Posts: 178
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 1:07 am
Contact:

Re: Water wings

Post by R Rinker »

On certified aircraft it is required to have (small) drain holes in the low spots of the wings for the purpose of draining any fuel in the case of a gas tank leaking fuel inside the wings. If you add an aux tank in the wing, the bay in which the tank is located must have these drain holes. We just drilled a few rivet size holes to comply.
Rodger Rinker - Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada
Post Reply

Return to “Just Aircraft”