Tyson put my airplane back together again this past weekend! It last flew in July of 2022. The fuel tanks were both slowly leaking and needed to be overhauled. When we returned from Alaska, Tyson pulled the tanks off and shipped them to Weep No More.

The tanks are the front part of the wing. You can see blue fuel staining in these pictures.

We got the tanks back in November, but then they sat in their boxes for lack of time for months.

The tanks didn’t fit on the plane straight out of the box. First off there was so much sealant that it interfered with the tight fit to the spar. Tyson gently scraped off the excess, all while worrying he was introducing a leak. We had extra work done on the right tank. Its inner rib was replaced with an upgraded kit, but the new fuel port didn’t line up with the old fuel line from the fuselage. And the mounting bracket didn’t line up either. Tyson was able to make it all work, but it just took time.

While the fuel tanks were out, Tyson wanted to install a couple of sensors in the wing: outside air temperature probe, and a magnetometer. These didn’t increase the scope much, but they still added a few days of time.

After he got the fuel tanks back on, we tested for leaks. First we put 10 gallons of fuel in the right tank. After a couple hours, we checked for obvious drips. There were none. Then we closed up all the windows and vents in our hangar and left it for the night. Before the repairs, when we came back the next morning, the hangar smelled of fuel. No smell in the morning now. We repeated the test for the left tank. Same results. Tyson did the first test flight on the new fuel tanks. He ran the engine at high power on the ground first, then took off and climbed to altitude. Everything looked good.

The last step was to calibrate the new magnetometer. Tyson and I spent a morning on the ramp with a compass, string, and chalk making a compass rose. Then the calibration was quick. Tyson thinks we should paint a permanent pattern.