Sport Pilot Talk

MacPara23 · Joined: 12 Nov 2009 Posts: 31 Location: Tucson, AZ

So I got myself an S12S some months ago and I LOVE that plane. There's just one little thing that starts driving me crazy...
The fact that the cabin is open in the rear underneath the engine is hard to accept. Living in Southern Arizona requires living with dust and whenever there's a breezy and gusty day at the strip, the inside of the plane is covered in dust. I'm getting really tired of cleaning this up. The opening is also not helping in lowering the noise level in the cabin and now as it's getting colder I'd also love to reduce the draftiness.
So, now that the problem is identified I'm kind of wondering of somebody else might have already solved this problem? I was thinking about stuffing some PU foam into that area, trying to squeeze itin between the hoses and cables in the hope to seal if off that way.
Any thoughts / ideas?

Torsten.

MacPara23 · Joined: 12 Nov 2009 Posts: 31 Location: Tucson, AZ

So I got myself some high density foam, the stuff that's used for upholstery of chairs, etc. - about 3" thick - and I cut it into slightly oversized blocks and I shoved it into those gaps between wing and engine mount. Make sure it's not touching the engine but only the lower mounting plate where the rubber mounts are attached to.
The result is great!
Significantly less noise, much warmer as there is no constant airflow rushing through the cabin and the foam seems to just stick in those gaps fine without any additional attachment.