Fabric aircraft / Ice & frost during the winter - Tips requested

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Tonino Ranwood

Filing Flight Plan
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Tonino
Hello everyone. I am new the forums and had a question about fabric aircraft and ice/frost during winter operations.

Where I live, hangar space is hard to find and when it's available is usually extremely expensive. Because of this, I will be tieing down my aircraft during the winter and hopefully will be able to get out and fly during the cold weather season.

My question is this, what is the best way to melt and keep ice and frost off of a ceconite fabric covered aircraft? I currently have main wing covers and horizontal stabilizer covers which should help.

But lets say I don't put on the covers (for the sake of conversion) and there is ice on the lifting surfaces. How does one deal with frost and ice on ceconite fabric? Does ISO PROP cause any damage to the fabric? Would Type I decier or TKS be better option?

Wondering what all of the non-hangared, winter flyers do. Thanks!!
 
There's winter and then there's winter, where are you?

There have been ragwing airplanes in this area (mid-atlantic) on tiedown, some covered up more modestly than others. They all seemed to do fine with letting the sun melt off the frost.

Oh, and welcome to PoA!
 
Could you use RV antifreeze? The pink propylene glycol stuff.
 
To answer the questions above, yes I could use the pink RV antifreeze but I have no idea on how that affects ceconite and if it will deteriorate the fabric. My location is in Southern Ontario Canada.
 
1D8FCD7A-176E-4D59-ABE0-FC22456399F9.jpeg Frost prevention is much easier than frost removal. Your covers should do fine. Be prepared to remove them in the wind as they flap and damage paint. If you do happen to get frost? Warmed RV anti-freeze sprayed with a garden sprayer works well. The warmer the better. No staining so don’t worry about your plane turning pink.
 
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Lots of holes in fabric (strut fittings and such), I’d try to not use a deicer.

Mild heat, some sort of heated blower. Like the ones you funnel through the engine compartment, used manually.

Then just watch for refreezing binding up hinges.
 
PS- My Cub in the picture has Ceconite and white dope w/ red imron trim. Not a problem. A windscreen cover is nice, by the way. No scraping the plexi so fewer scratches. It also needs to be removed for winds high enough to make it flap.

25 years parking outside in Alaska, so Wing covers are very familiar. What will you use for preheat? I’ve done lots and lots of that, too.
 
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Stewartb said:
PS- What will you use for preheat? I’ve done lots and lots of that, too.
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That is another question I had. I have a Tripacer PA-22-150. I'm unsure of how I will preheat it. I'm open to hearing what you have done.
 
Tonino Ranwood said:
To answer the questions above, yes I could use the pink RV antifreeze but I have no idea on how that affects ceconite and if it will deteriorate the fabric. My location is in Southern Ontario Canada.
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The problem isn't the fabric. For example, Polyfiber stuff is chock full of MEK - downright nasty solvent - and it doesn't do anything to the Dacron/ Ceconite.
However, the problem may be the paint. Polytone, for example, stains easily and I would refrain from using something with dyes like the RV stuff. A polyurethane finish would be much more durable and resistant to chemicals.

But I ain't no A&P...
 
If he has Ceconite he shouldn’t have Polytone. Ceconite should have butyrate dope or Ranthane. No matter, RV anti-freeze doesn’t stain Polytone, either.
 
Some info about coverings:

Ceconite is both a brand of Dacron fabric and an STC approved covering process. If the process is Ceconite, the coating is butyrate dope. Dope is just lacquer paint with flex agents. Fingernail polish is also lacquer paint, BTW.

Dope is sometimes covered with polyurethane paint, or repaired with Polyfiber or Stewarts. Sometimes even with car enamel or rattle can paint. I think you go to hell for that.

Dacron fabric can be covered by Polyfiber, Stewarts, or various polyurethane processes. Technically it should not be called "Ceconite", as that refers to the process, not the underlying fabric. But there are no process police going around enforcing terminology. The Stitts STC process is supposed to use polyfiber fabric, not Ceconite fabric, but the only difference is the stamp. I think some of the other processes such as Stewarts, Airtech, etc are brand-agnostic on fabric.

It is important to know your covering process, because different coatings have different chemical compatibilities. Dope dissolves easily in acetone, MEK, or lacquer thinner. Polyfiber dissolves in MEK. Urethane does not dissolve in much of anything. As @Geoff says, the fabric itself won't dissolve in anything, but heat and UV will trash it quickly.

So I would start by determining conclusively your covering system. If OEM, a little research will let you know what the factory used when your aircraft was born. If homebuilt or recovered, the logs ought to address it. Then find a little flap of fabric tucked in somewhere inconspicuous, trim away a few tiny samples, and test by submerging in a different solvents. If truly Ceconite, a quick swipe of acetone will remove the dope just as surely as it does fingernail polish.

Then you can do a soak test in your deicer of choice to see if any negative effect.

@Tools is right about holes in fabric, especially on older aircraft.
 
Nope. The back side of Ceconite will be blue. Polyfiber (Stits) is pink. Identification is that simple. The fabric has stamps identifying it but in truth it’s identical and nobody cares but the FAA. Anti freeze won’t hurt either process (pirep) and there’s no reason to spray under the wings where there are openings. But if he did, there should be moisture drains in every bay of wing and tail.
 
On metal aircraft, I use TKS fluid. Mainly alcohol with a bit of ethylene glycol to prevent re-freezing. No color or dyes.

I figure it is designed to be used on aircraft. I use a 1 gallon Home Depot sprayer.
 
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