REFLECTOR: Aircraft Covers II

[Terry Miles]

Thanks Chuck.  I get it about the breathe, but shed water issue.  Likely the
factory fabric is a light wgt polyester.  It sheds water, but can get
soaked.  At $250 for a selling price that's likely what it is but I am not
for sure.  Tighter weave polyesters and one with the water treatment done to
the thread before the weaving process are 5 times the price.  Other
materials can make reasonable use of spray on surface treatments.  I have
some samples now, and more coming.  Another option are high tech multi
layered "non wovens" made for the car cover market.    So far I have only
seen one of them, but I'll pooch some more.  Thanks for the critique on
abrasions.  To keep the cover form fitted down real good, the darts would
have to go in where the shape narrows which is from about the top of the
window out to the nose.  Still mulling that too.  There is another issue
here too and that is UV resistance.  

Terry

  _____  

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Chuck Jensen
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:43 AM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Aircraft Covers II

 

Terry,

 

As far as fabric is concerned, I believe a person wants one that is water
resistant, not water proof.  As was posted, water proof fabric can trap
water under it and it'll come to no good.  For instance, ever trying wearing
plastic underwear....oops, never mind, bad example.

 

The water resistant fabric will shed virtually all the water yet allow water
and vapor beneath an escape path.  I suppose GoreTex would be the ultimate,
but we can probably set our sights just a tad lower and still have a good
outcome.  The factory cover kind of 'beads' water, though it does 'wet'
somewhat, but I've not found 'water' underneath, so it seems to be a good
tradeoff and the seams of mind have caused no abrasions anyway.

 

Chuck Jensen 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On
Behalf Of Terry Miles
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 5:55 PM
To: 'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list'
Subject: REFLECTOR: Aircraft Covers II

Hi all,

 

Boy there is nothing that beats asking a question on this forum to get some
good answers.  

 

At this juncture I would say the factory cover is the way to go.  You can't
beat happy customers and $250 beats the hell out of anything I was planning.
Fabric alone was going to run that much, but I had another material in mind,
and a different construction.  I may still do this in the end, but I could
never do it for $250.  

 

Likely the factory can get a hold of the guy who makes the covers. So if you
have one of their covers and the fabric itself has lost its water repellant
quality, you need to find out the fabric type used.  I would guess (only
guess) it was a light wgt polyester (Dacron) with maybe a vinyl coating to
waterproof it.  (Doesn't breathe)   Anyway, here is a link to a spray-on
product designed to waterproof Acryic (not polyester) fabric.  I would think
it would work on anything, but one could check on the manufacturer's
website.  

 

Leaks also could have to do with how the panels were seamed together.  I had
planned for an overlap kind of seam.  If seams are a leak point, you can try
buying water-proofing silicon seam goop from an outdoors shop like what they
use to seal tent seams and try to close the seams a little better that way.
It comes in a small tube usually.  Be careful before you try that fix.  It
is material dependant.   Leaky seams actually could be helping a water tight
fabric to breathe some and so will a loose fitting cover.  

 

http://www.sailrite.com/Categories/Protectants;jsessionid=0a0105501f432650d4
d3619d4b98b873be5cdeb030e7.e3eSc34OaxmTe34Pa38Ta38Qahb0   

 

For a snippet on waterproof versus ability to breathe, you can look here.
No cover is water proof, and that is by conscious design.  

http://covercraft.com/cover_fabrics.htm   As a follow on to that point, and
as TEC points out, water tight covers can cause trouble with plexi.  

 

Cover material selection and cover construction methods both contribute to
function.  If I come up with a better mouse trap, I'll be sure to write
home.  

 

Dave, one possible fix your seam over the windscreen is to do a lining of
satin sheeting material and/or a thin sheet of flannel sandwiched in there
too-I read that somewhere just this week.  Another point worth repeating on
this topic is, as Chuck pointed out, the cover can't get contaminated with
sand or stones, and the airplane itself has to be clean and preferably waxed
or any cover will upbraid the airplane surface.  

 

Terry  

 

 

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