Luc,
Having read your shipping descriptions and the strapping problems, forgive
me if I extracted some humor from them. The ship is home safe now, so
hopefully it is ok. I hope any damage is small.
That's a lot of questions, I don't have experience with a lot of them, since
my plane is awhile from flying.
In the experimental world of airplanes, many times there is no correct or
right way of doing something (safety issues aside). My opinion is that the
answer to many questions, such as whether to use breakers or fuses, is a
personal one based on the functionality you are looking for.
Most importantly, it would be wise to check the regs for Canada (or wherever
your home station resides), and answer some of the questions based on their
content.
Here is a stab at a few (others will have their opinions to add, I hope):
>3. I have the Classic fuel sight gauge with a clear tube going over a
vertical hatched pattern to the right of the pilot's right knee. Is this
system ok ? Should I only change the tubing to them blue tubes ?
Many people use this. In level stable flight and proper venting, it might
work ok. Others have moved it closer to the tank (much better) to the space
between the seats, or have eliminated it altogether. Other options include
capacitance, float, or Europa's level checker which should be available on
the web sight. One nifty method measures the weight of the fuel in the tank.
My personal opinion is that at least one redundant method would be a minimum
system. Out of the two methods, one should be a direct measurement. For
example: one float and one fuel calculator (based on fuel flow sensor,
automatically incorporated into current day EFIS systems) should be ok. Or a
sight gauge and a fuel calculator. In the end, it comes down to you. If I
had just bought the plane, and the current gauge is working well, I probably
would not change it right away. Small well-checked changes over large
periods of time would be my mantra, if everything else works
great....especially for fuel systems, which have a higher rate of incidence
of causing problems in small aircraft. That would be in hopes of keeping any
new changes from creating large problems.
As for tubing changes, there is a lot of information for this on the
Matronics server. General consensus shows many tube types need replacing
every few years due to discoloring. There is a hybrid tube with teflon on
the inside that appears to have a lot of potential. I will be using it, but
it is untested by me. Others have tested it, however.
>4. Should I re-do all the fuel tubing, knowing that the aircraft first flew
nearly 11 years ago ?
To be on the conservative side....probably. If not already done, be sure
to check the maintenance logs to see if it has been done. I think the Europa
documentation weighs in on this somewhere..
9. Am I correct to understand that the electrical system does not use any
solenoid for the master switch ?
Some people use one, some don't. If power requirements are relatively low, a
solenoid for the master switch is not needed.
Best Regards,
Greg
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