Wow Sid. You seem to be cursed. I recall your post about damaging the tanks with alcohol contaminated fuel. Sorry to hear that you'll have to rebuild your tanks, but at this point in time, I agree that it's a good decision to go with Aluminum Tanks.
The tanks in my KR were built with Safe-T-Poxy 16 years ago, then sloshed with an alcohol resistant sloshing compound. The "KRNet Wisdom" developed since then says that either Safe-T-Poxy or Sloshing compound would surely dissolve and the sumps plug up in short order. My tanks were exposed to alcohol once 15 years ago, and have never seen anything other than 100LL and one tank full of 80/87 red gas since. After 15 years in service, I have not observed any degredation of the tanks or the sloshed lining. However, I never take any chance of allowing alcohol into the system, so the plane only sees aviation grade fuel. That is not a cheap proposition with today's fuel costs and may be even worse with whatever we end up with as a 100LL replacement. My other plane has unsloshed glass tanks. Since it has an engine requiring 100LL fuel, that has also not been a problem. However, as the cost of fuel is starting to drive the number of hours I fly, I may eventually consider removing the glass tanks in favor of building alumium tanks, and start blending premium Mogas into the system. If I was building either plane today, I would likely build aluminum tanks and do my best to eliminate rubber components from the fuel system, then not worry about picking up some alcohol occasionally. That is a change in attitude for me in the last year as the price of avgas continues to climb, which is now high enough that it is adversely affecting my flight time. Jeff Scott Los Alamos, NM ----- Original Message ----- From: Sid Wood Sent: 08/24/12 05:29 PM To: kr...@mylist.net Subject: KR> First Flight - NOT I took my KR-2 to the airport in November, 2011, expecting to wait two or three months for the FAA inspection, then go fly. Not so fast: fuel pump problems, transponder calibration, additional back-up airspeed indicator and wet compass installation (yes, N6242 has 2 ASI and 3 magnetic compasses per FSDO mandate), delayed FAA Airworthiness Inspection, brake pedal problems, Ethanol fuel induced problems, carb overhaul and fuel leaks have all but ground flying to a halt. All those problems were fixed. Today was to be the day to fly. Just top off the tanks and go put air under the tires. Not so fast: Eagle Eye Bernie Wunder spots a drip while at the fuel pumps. The drip turns into a minor gusher. The left fuel tank is hemorrhaging badly and pronounced DOA back at the hangar. The left wing is now back in my shop awaiting repairs. My intention is to rip out the fiberglass rib walls and install aluminum tanks. This experimental aircraft stuff does somewhat build character. Sid Wood Tri-Gear KR-2 N6242 Mechanicsville, MD, USA smw...@md.metrocast.net
