Here is the reply from Martin Eskildsen at Airmaster:
To my knowledge the blades should be fine in rain as the Nickel will protect
the leading edge. Plastic tape can also be used on the inner part of the
blade if necessary.
- and here are the comments from Daryl Heinemann at Warp Drive Inc.:
Martin is correct in that the blades will stand up very well to rain as long
as you have the nickel leading edges on them. We put on as much nickel as
we can based on the diameter of the propeller which will cover almost half
of the length of each blade. Once you get inboard of where the nickel ends
the speed of the blade at that point is much slower than the tip so it is
not as proned to wear or damage. The Stoneguard leading edge tapes that we
can provide are in 12" lengths. If you know that you will fly through rain
at some point we recommend cutting these pieces in half and putting a 6"
piece from the point where the nickel ends towards the center. This will
protect the remaining inner portion of the blades leading edge and can be
pulled off and replaced if it does sustain damage.
The only other issue with flying in rain is wearing the painted finish off
the back side of the blade. We use a flat black lacquer paint for the
factory finish which will take some time to wear through but you may start
to see the carbon fabric pattern showing through over time. You can
re-apply the flat black lacquer paint if needed, however, you must take care
in giving the blades an even coat or else you can throw the balance off. If
you get to that point please let us know and we can give more details on
this.
Regards
Svein
LN-SKJ
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