13 gal tank installation

[Avidfox]

HI,
Has anyone went from the 6 gal tanks to 13gal tank? Does it involve major work?
Thanks,
Dave
Yakutat

[cap01]

I replaced both of my five gal thanks with the thirteen gal ones about four years ago . It does require some work , a rib has to be removed and the brace tube has to be shortened and the fitting relocated one bay outboard. The fittings that attach to the spar tubes are the incorrect angle so ones with the correct angle have to be made or as I understand bought from kitfox . As for the fabric , I just took off the top , it had to be remove one bay outboard of the tank for access the tube fitting.. I guess if I were doing it again I would rib stich the fabric splice . Not that I've had any problems but for piece of mind . I probably have around 600 hrs on it since I replace the last tank and no problems. Also the last wing I did I painted the whole wing rather than just the new fabric as the color didn't match with the new poly fiber paint and I didn't have to try and blind the new paint.
There are some pic in my album . Anything else , just ask
By the way , it was well worth the work as ten gallons just wasn't enough gas for the kind of flying I do.
Good luck

[cgruby]

I can relate to a plane with a short fuel supply. Years ago, I built a Spezio with a Lycoming O-360 180 hp engine. The fuel supply was a short 16 gallons That was just enough fuel to get you far enough away from home that when you ran into weather and had to turn around and go back, you did not have enough to get back on. It sure made the cross country's exciting. Later, I built a 24 gallon tank that I put in the front seat. I had 3 hours of fuel plus an hour reserve. I never worried about fuel again.

Of course, there is one exception to having a lot of fuel. As the old adage says, "The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."