My new, to me, Cessna 185 has quite a few air leaks around the windows and doors. I want to order seals for both windows, doors, and baggage door but the available options are a bit over whelming. I don't want to waist money and obviously want my airplane air tight the first time so I thought I would see what luck people have had with the multiple products. Thanks for the help!

Well I'm doing exactly the same thing. Just got a 185 as well. Do not get the original seals, they never worked. I replaced them on my first 185 with stock and they didn't improve the situation, lots of money wasted. I just got these from Aircraft Spruce. They fit in the small gap in the door sill , rather than the corner of the door. Not too expensive and relatively easy to install, can't say how they work yet, I have to finish doing the annual to go fly it for a test. They should work better in concept, I know the stock ones don't work. Can't say about their window seals, didn't order them as I am fitting Bubble windows and will see how the seal is after I get that worked out.

You need to check out the seal at the fuselage/wing/windshield interface. Remove the faring that runs above the door and around the windshield. The gap between the windshield and the wing/fuselage is normally sealed with tape. The tape hardens and comes loose. So fitting new good quality cloth reenforced tape (duct tape), not crap, but more akin to armorers tape. Will bring down the air leak noise in the cabin immensely.

Let me know what you end up getting, if mine does not work out, I'll try something else. You will never get it to truly seal, but every little bit helps

I know the link says piper, but it goes to the Cessna page:
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/piperdoorseals3.php

I've had very good luck with this stuff

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/search/se ... 8&search=1

on a C-150 and my current C-172, no idea if the door on a C-185 is similar or not so I don't know if it will work for you.

Thanks for the info fellas, I'm currently torn between the aircraft spruce and the knots2u seal. Just found out today I need a top over haul so looks like I'll end up with a few days down time to get something slaped on.

Any more opinions on door seal. I just got the stuff from Cessna. Hollow 1/4 round. I cant see it working so well. It takes about $23 bucks to do one door. The only other seal i can find and that yall suggested is $125 a door!! Seem kinda steep for some weather stripping. IDEAS?

This is the door/baggage door seals I used on my 185. Excellent quality and design:
http://www.knots2u.net/door-seal-front-entry-each-cessna-150-152-170-172-175-180-182-185-205-206-207-210-336-337-ads-c1401/

I also installed wind lacing around the doors:
http://www.brownaircraft.com/category_s/264.htm

I tried other window seals but found this to be the best (although if you use white it will discolor over a short time):
http://www.brownaircraft.com/product_p/ba-1055-1.htm

http://www.aircraftdoorseals.com

I replaced my door and window seals with these. They're expensive but they work well. I haven't been able to detect any leaks at all since installing them.

dogpilot wrote:.........You need to check out the seal at the fuselage/wing/windshield interface. Remove the faring that runs above the door and around the windshield. The gap between the windshield and the wing/fuselage is normally sealed with tape. The tape hardens and comes loose. So fitting new good quality cloth reenforced tape (duct tape), not crap, but more akin to armorers tape. Will bring down the air leak noise in the cabin immensely......

Just did this recently on my 180. Helped quite a bit, but still had some air coming in on the pilot's side. I removed the cover at the upper door post / wing root vent area, and cut two layers of soft foam to fill that forward-wing-root space. This helped quite a bit also, it still have a little air coming in but not bad.

The wing root vents sometimes leak air, additionally they can have a habit of self-opening when you're at cruise speed. My 180 had some peel-n-stick Velcro strips wrapped around the vent tubes to add some friction, but they'd still slide open occasionally. I added a bit more and that took care of the self-opening problem.

This is the cessna stuff fyi. Pn r581574.

PAMR MX wrote:This is the cessna stuff fyi. Pn r581574.

That's the stuff I had before. It leaked a lot, not sure if it's because it was old or just not a good design.

Don't forget- you can adjust the strike plate on the door jamb to control how tightly the door closes. Sometimes it's possible to eliminate or at least reduce a drafty door this way. You also will probably have to adjust the strike plate after adding door seal material, unless you want to have to do the "Cessna slam" to get the door to latch. I prefer a door that you can just click it closed.

Good point hotrod180. My latches are adjusted so the door is very tight. Instead of slamming the door I open the window and pull the door shut with my hand.

robw56 wrote:... I open the window and pull the door shut with my hand.

A very good idea, whether the doors are tight or not. Don't pull on the interior handles!
At least on the early models, that's a good way to beat up the door latch parts. I don't like to even let pax close the doors, even after being coached.

My airplane had new door seals and baggage door seals when I bought her 11 years ago--no idea what brand--which made the doors a bit hard to close for awhile. They're much easier now, and they don't leak much that I can tell.

But curiously, whoever did the door sealing totally left out any window seal for the opening pilot side door! They'd stripped the old out, but that was it. I frankly didn't worry about it much--the airplane is so noisy anyway, and the air leakage wasn't really all that bad. But finally I decided to do something about it, and got this kit from Aircraft Spruce: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/a ... owseal.php

That plus the silicone grease that is from the same company, and the window seals very well. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/ap/ ... neglue.php My only complaint is that if I haven't flown for awhile, the window is a little sticky to open--I think the grease does that. But the sealing is excellent.

Cary