Tanks

Right Tank

	1 April 04	Started on the right tank. Seems just like yesterday that I was doing the first tank! Started by fitting the Z-brackets however, during the back drilling, I neglected to tighten down the most inboard and it rotated a bit. Now I've got to order another Z-bracket. Unfortunately, you just can't get one, you get the entire set. Good news is that it's only $1.60 for the set. Well, then add shipping and handling.
	3 April 04	Took a couple hours and got the right tank fitted together. Also drilled the filler flange. As I recall, the first tank was kind of a pain to get the ribs fitted, and the second is following right along.
	9 April 04	Got all the Z-brackets aligned and drilled except the most outboard. Ended up ordering a spare from Van's! Also got the splice plate drilled. So far this tank seems to be aligning well with the LE.
	11 April 04	Received the Z-bracket from Van's and got that installed. Removed the LE and drilled the end ribs to the Z-brackets per the Checkoway plans. After drilling the end ribs, remove the skin and interior ribs. Proceed to drill the z-brackets through the aft tank baffle. Remove the end ribs, then remove the aft baffle. Now go prep the rest of the tank.
	5 May 04	We're making progress. A little slow, but forward progress is a good thing. After priming the wing skins and LE parts, the Z-brackets get riveted to nutplates. This, time they're the right ones. On the last tank, I installed the wrong size nutplates and had to drill all of 'em out while on the tank. Not good...
	19 May 04	By this time, I also had the tank skin de-burred, dimpled, counter-sunk, etc. Plugging away at this a little at a time. Most of the tank hardware is fitted and the rib nose plates are drilled.
	23 May 04	Got the tank filler flange and the drain flange riveted and sealed. Finally getting somewhere.
	30 May 04	Not sure why, but when riveting the last tank together, it was pretty hot in the garage. No change this time either. Took about three hours, but managed to cleco the tank together and get the first three ribs riveted and sealed. I'm trying a slightly different technique on this tank. After dealing the flange/skin surface and riveting, I thin out the pro-seal a little. Then use an acid brush (with bristles cut somewhat short) to "paint" the sealant on the rivet bucks and seams. So far seems to work well.
	30 May 04	Armed and dangerous. Either a serious psychopath or RV builder working with Pro-Seal.
	6 Jun 04	Inboard rib is now riveted in. Just have to seal it all up and install the rear baffle.
	17 June 04	Rear baffle installed and sealed, as well as all Z-brackets. Starting to pressure test.
	18 June 04	Found a nasty little leak on the bottom, most forward rivet of the next-to-inboard rib. What a pain! It took forever to seal off the filler neck but this leak was easy to spot; you could hear it. After some consultations on the Matroncs list, the best method was to thin out some Pro-Seal 1:1 with MEK, pull a vacuum, and attempt to suck the sealant into the tank. So far so good. I was only able to pull about 4" Hg with a hand vacuum pump, which was enough to suck in the skins a fair amount. I really didn't want to go much further. The picture at left shows the dallop of thinned Pro-Seal curing. It's not too visable but you can see an area around the rivet that was sucked into the tank.
	20Jun 04	Doing the manometer thing again. This time it's holding. Amazing how much the water level will rise and fall with temperature. I've used about 15" of water to pressurize the tank.