Original Posted By: "Oscar Zuniga"
Howdy, folks;Just talked with William Wynne and I thought to ask him about his "wet center section" fuel tank since someone asked about it a few days ago. As some of you may know, William is quite experienced in composite work so he glassed in the center section bay on his plane to create an integral fuel tank. It held 17 U.S. gallons and he says every bit was usable. As we suspected, the tank placement kept the CG fairly stable no matter the fuel load.William's fuel tank remained completely intact after the crash (spun in from about 80' AGL after a carb ice engine stoppage, then burned), and he has no reservations about his approach to carrying fuel there. The problem had to do with the aluminum fuel lines at the forward and aft ends of the tank, which led down the cabanes. These lines broke or sheared off when the wing was shifted violently to one side in the crash, and the fuel leaked from them. William says they make a crashworthy fitting with a check ball arrangement that stops the flow of fuel if the tank fitting is broken off. It is some sort of AN-pattern fitting, but I haven't looked for it to see what he's talking about.Bottom line is that the wet center section tank, properly glassed in and fitted, is a good alternative to the preformed metal tank in the wing or header. Gravity flow is assured, CG stays put, and capacity is good enough for most sport flying (the Corvair will run about 3 hrs. on 17 gal., but don't go hammering me on that because your mileage results may vary!)Oscar ZunigaSan Antonio, TXmailto: taildrags(at)hotmail.comwebsite at http://www.flysquirrel.netThe new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* ________________________________________________________________________________