I had help with the engine cowling during constructions and unfortunately the nose gear gap was cut off center and larger than necessary. So back during construction I fabricated a repair using epoxy and flox. Pretty dumb of me to think that the small amount of surface area (I did sand the fiberglass cowling at an angle) would be sufficient given all the vibration and stress the bottom of the cowl would be under when in flight. Showing that I was a first time builder…
During my second Condition Inspection my heart sank when I saw a crack around the repair. Fuck me. All nicely painting and now I’d have to mess up the paint to make a proper repair.
I started on the inside sanding off the epoxy paint to get down to fiberglass. Then I cut cross hatch groves across the entire area before applying three layers of bidirectional carbon fiber.
After letting that cure overnight, I flipped my cowl over and taped up before sanding through the beautiful paint job. Painful. It was a bigger area that I expected but I wanted a good inch plus of cowl fiber glass exposed. Then two layers of carbon fiber to sandwich the original flox/epoxy repair. Following the curing, I rough sanded the edges, deciding to leave the final faring and painting to the paint shop. If you see an odd slight raised hump on the cowl in front of my gear leg, now you will know why.
No Comments