Dave,
My immediate suggestion would be to talk to Bud Yerly in Florida as he has
already written up the process for replacing the fuel tank.
In the UK the Europa club has two technical representatives in Nigel Graham
and John Wighton, and Neville Ayre has worked on many Europas in the UK
having previously worked at Europa in the early development and peak sales
period.
So you have many sources of expertise available to you if you do not fancy
having a go at it yourself.
I am not aware of anyone using an in tank bladder but again my thought would
be that you do not want to reduce the tank size if you can help it.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Steve Pitt
Chairman, Europa Club
G-SMDH
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Disney" <davedisney@yahoo.co.uk>
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2015 9:11 PM
Subject: Europa-List: Fuel Tank Leak
>
> The day after flying back from the Shuttleworth DOTH I noticed a strong
> smell of fuel in the hanger. Investigation led to mopping out about a
> litre of fuel from under the baggage bay area.
>
> Further investigation has proved that the fuel tank is leaking. Strangely,
> it only begins to leak when 35+ litres of fluid is in the tank. I've taken
> the wings off and checked as best I can to identify where the leak is, but
> haven't identified exactly where it is coming from other than it is from
> the reserve (starboard) side of the tank.
>
> I really don't fancy the idea of ripping out and replacing the tank, so I
> want to investigate all options before rushing in. Has anyone investigated
> using a bag tank inside the existing tank?
>
> My previous aircraft, a Glos Airtourer, had a bag tank as do many military
> and other aircraft, Piper Aztec springs to mind, so it should be possible.
> I'm thinking that access could be made between the headrests. Is this a
> structural area, if so, how big an access would be allowable? In case you
> haven't guessed, I'm not the builder of the aircraft but I would tackle
> replacing the plastic fuel tank if I have to. I just don't like the idea
> of removing some of the structural elements of the aircraft to replace a
> tank with a new one that could suffer the same fate sometime in the
> future. At least a bladder tank can be removed and repaired if necessary.
>
> Any thoughts anyone?
>
> Dave
> G-RJWX
>
>
> Read this topic online here:
>
> http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=444701#444701
>
>
>
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