Chris B wrote:Charles posted on this twice last year. One post had a happy outcome, but an earlier post did not. Perhaps he can add some real-world experience to this thread?
Chris, you're right, the first attempt didn't work so well and the tape had to be replaced just after that picture was taken. My mechanic used a different type of tape (which looks exactly the same to me), and it's held up for almost a year now without any tears, cracks or peeling despite flying in heavy rain and snow.
Charles wrote:My mechanic used a different type of tape (which looks exactly the same to me), and it's held up for almost a year now without any tears, cracks or peeling despite flying in heavy rain and snow.
Hi Charles -
Excellent!
Would you be willing to check with your mechanic and find the brand of the good tape? Bonus points for a source.
A month or so ago I used the Bowlus sailplane tape to tape over my wing root seal, which was again cracking and falling apart at the leading edge where it turns sharply, and has to be stretched to get inserted in my plane. So far so good! Been through several days of rain flying, and sitting out in the sun, and still looking good. Overall, adds a very nice look over the grey weather stripping look. A few notes... the adhesive is very light. A tape with a grippier adhesive would be better. Also, it's not nearly as stretchy as hyped up to be, took some serious work to get it around the leading edges without ripping it or having lots of wrinkles in it. It does hide well the broken/cracked original seal, and seems to be keeping that from expanding. Using it primarily instead of over the root seal would be a good option, except for the fact that several areas of my root seal are attached with silicone, and I doubt the tape would stick at all over those spots if I took off the seal. I still have lots of tape on my roll, so will probably just use the same if falls off or cracks, but I'd recommend trying the 3M instead.
As an aside, I did try putting it over the leading edges of my wing walks, but it doesn't stick even a bit to my older style grip tape like walk material, and fell off after 1 flight.
Update on the tape. The Bowlus tape has lasted 4 years on the wing root seals, and is just now showing breakdown. 6 months ago or so I bought some 3M PE 1 inch tape to put around my landing light and compare it to the Bowlus. Note, the 3M is much more expensive! Well... the 3M is junk compared to the Bowlus. It is already cracked, brittle, and delaminated! And, it didn’t stick any better to begin with. Needless to say, I will be buying more Bowlus tape to replace my old wing root seal coverings.
