This is more of a hypothetical question, but I have waded into this territory recently when parts of my Max were exposed to overnight dew and got slightly damp /wet, especially the tail unit.

To put it differently, if I were to park my Max outside on the driveway, and cover the forward fuselage ( entire cockpit, most of the engine etc), with a good quality tarp, and if it rained overnight, what would happen ?

Which means the only exposed parts are the wings, landing gear, rear fuselage,  and tail unit, and the rain is limited to a steady drizzle for about 10 or 15 minutes, and not a heavy downpour.

My own impression was that the painted fabric is almost waterproof, allowing the rain water to run off the painted surface, and any dampness that may have seeped into the frame will not cause any long term damage if I let the wood dry out by itself.

But there could be more to it that I do not know.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

There are drain holes ( or should be ) in all the places that water might pond in the air frame. One should be in front of the tail spring mounting board. Make sure that the drain holes are not plugged and doing their job. There should be holes on the bottom side of the wing in each bay and in the cockpit floor area and in the tail feathers. The holes are about 1/8" and should be thru a double layer of fabric. A dollar (silver type) patch is used to make the second layer of fabric. These airplanes really should be kept out of the weather if possible.

I left my sky pup.assembled one time outside during the winter, just for one night so I could just jump in and go in the morning. The top of the wing was covered with a light layer of frost.when I went to takeoff the airplane barely took off and flew eraticaly. Just something to think about! Commercial aircraft don't have deicing systems in place for nothing

Keith, I've posted on this forum before about covering my Max this year with a tarp. Going back to July 25th my airplane has been outside continuously. When I knew rain was moving in my area I covered it with a 19X29 ft. tarp. The rest of the time it was uncovered day, and night. I know it got dew on it in the 70 to 80 days that it was uncovered. A couple of times I was at the field before sunrise to fly to breakfast, and it was wet from the dew, but not drenched. In a manner of speaking my luck ran out 3 weeks ago when the wind broke my tie down straps, and blew my airplane into a hedge row, damaging the elevator. The tarp stayed put. The following weekend we had tornadoes in the area at night. This time I had better tie down straps, and there was no damage. In another thread I have posted a short video of my Max flying. In the last 110 or so days I've flown over 50 hours. It takes me about 20 minutes to uncover it, and a little longer to cover it up. The trailing edge of my elevator had been damaged before, and was due to be repaired or replaced. I stripped all the fabric, made a new trailing edge, repaired several broken ribs, replaced all the gussets, and recovered it. I'm just about finished with the painting, and hope that I be back flying one more time before I put it in my garage for the winter.  

Just another suggestion, dont store your airplane in a open "hanger". If there is no back wall its a wind tunnel. And your airplane will be destroyed at some point.

Thanks for all your thoughts on this.

Greg Doe, appreciate the detailed record of how you go about protecting your Max in the open. It would be nice to see a picture of how your Max is tied down under a large tarp.

Obviously no one would like to leave their plane out in the open, but do so due to various other logistical constraints. My open trailer fits in the garage with the plane parked on it, but to move it out of the garage, I need to remove the tail. Then after moving it outside, I need to again re-attach the tail, because I keep it attached while trailering out on the open road.  Removing and re-attaching the tail delays my departure to the airport in the morning. So I park the trailer and plane out on the driveway the previous night, with tail already attached. But my tarp covers only the fuselage and dismantled wings. I do have more tarps to cover the tail, but covering the light tail with a tarp could cause damage to the tail if there is a strong gust of wind at night. So I choose to leave the tail uncovered for the night, and live with some dew and dampness in the morning. But the dampness is all gone by the time I reach the airfield after a 90 minute drive.

My options are still evolving, so I may not subject my Max to this routine for long. I really need to find a space at the airfield for next summer.

That sucks Keith living in the subarbs, isn't so great for airplane owners. Do a search for "private" airports around your local area, you might be surprised. A lot of folks will give you free hanger rent at their "private" airport just for being friendly and doing small chores.

Keith, I took a couple of pictures of my Max with the tarp on it. I don't have a smart phone (old flip phone), so instead of using my "dumb" phone I took a couple of pictures with my camera. Now I need a tutorial on how to post pictures on this site. First I'll have to down load them to my computer, and than post them. If there is anyone reading this thread who could coach me as to how to post pictures I would appreciate it. I got the elevator back on, and flew about 1/2 hour today.

I made a video showing how to post images:
https://youtu.be/4TIK_Jno6sU

Quoted from Greg Doe

If there is anyone reading this thread who could coach me as to how to post pictures I would appreciate it.

It sucks really bad when I hear of.a.plane rotting under a tarp.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a28Ekfi4t1Y what about a t-hanger made of tarps, and sticks and stones.

Greg, Above video by ULB should be adequate.
To help with the process, here is a summary of the steps involved.

1. Download the pic from your camera to your PC / laptop.
2. Make sure image size is less than 1 MB.
If it is above 1 MB, first shrink the image file to less than 1 MB on your PC.  (The smaller the size, it formats / displays even better on this site, without spilling over the edges. About 150 to 200 kb would be ideal)

3. After composing your text reply in ETLB, click on more options , from below the message editor window.
4. Click on Attach files >> choose file. Select the image file which you just downloaded to your PC from the camera.
5. Click on attach ( and add more )

Just a note about tarps. Be sure to put a very soft towel or rag over the windshield before the tarp goes
over it. I had a very windy day here in Ohio years ago and when I uncovered the plane, the windshield looked like it had been sand blasted!
The tarp was drumming on it. Took me hours to repair with micromesh and polish.

@Keith....  why can't you just leave the tail off in the garage, and just reattach once moved outside?  Might save a couple steps.
another thing, can you buy one of those Metal Carport things for the back yard? That may help, but be sure to put in some VERY Sturdy anchors.
Myself, I would enclose it and make it a whole garage/hangar. Cheapest is to buy just the carport, and enclose it yourself with metal.

Mini Max under tarp.

Still trying to figure it out?

I called in "IT" service aka my granddaughter!

Thanks, Greg, those pictures are very helpful. I am guessing it protects your airplane well even against a heavy downpour.

Keith, Yes it's been in some "frog chokers". My biggest concern is wind, and it did break loose one time, (ratchet cargo straps broke) and broke the elevator trailing edge, but the tarp stayed put.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mGplvun8sZA
Never forget storing your plane sideways.with a dolly in a barn or shed.

The lost art of helping your neighbor is dead! Western society is doomed!