Ron, All resin based systems including Epoxy, VE, plastic, and lumber, plus other materials such as glass, aluminum and steel, get brittle in cold weather; it's a matter of what temperature and degree of brittleness. (The steel hull of the Titanic shattering readily by an ice berg at 0 degrees C comes to mind.) Tony Bengalis recommended metal tanks be attached to the airframe with wrap around metal straps and cushioned with thin rubber pads between the airframe and straps. Due to vibration, differential expansion and airframe flexing, the tank would tend to move and break loose from hard attachments like welded tabs or rub on hard mounted support areas. The same mounting technique would apply to plastic tanks or any other material that had a different expansion coefficient from the airframe construction materials. Building in tanks as part of the airframe using the same materials as the airframe would help ensure the expansion coefficients were similar. I would not recommend beating on any fuel tank in cold weather to see how brittle it had become. Proper mounting is needed for any fuel tank or separable item to assure proper service.
JG, Do you know what caused the pin hole leak in your aluminum tank? Sid Wood Tri-gear KR-2 N6242 Mechanicsville, MD, USA smw...@md.metrocast.net >Curiosity here!! Doesn't both of these systems, pvc pipe and vinyl fence >posts, get brittle with cold weather?? With even minor flexing in the wing >structure it seems the possibility of cracking could become a factor. I would tend to lean toward using aluminum tubing rather than any plastic of this type. Just my .02 worth. Ron >My 20+ year old aluminum tank (forward of the instrument panel) had a pin hole in it... jg
