1992 and older Kitfox fiberglass tank concerns

[Bob Brocious]

I ran across this page in the Kitfox builder's guide that came with my 1992 Kitfox. I am wondering what owners are doing to deal with the threat of a delaminated fuel tank. Do you slosh it with a solution? Do you replace the tanks? Do you just burn 100LL?

I am concerned that my tanks are not safe especially given the material I recently pulled out of the 13 gallon tank.

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[jiott]

I'll tell you what I would do: Its too late to just burn 100LL due to the damage already occurring with the junk you find flaking off. Nothing is going to properly clean that out and glue loose pieces back on. Time to bite the bullet and replace the tanks.

[jiott]

Fuel contamination/restriction is the #1 cause of accidents/incidents in experimental aircraft. Why give fate that much of a running start.

[cap01]

before i removed the 6 gal tanks i did slosh them with an epoxy . the tanks were installed but never had any gas in them . i never had much faith in the quality of sloshing, with the baffles and the difficulty of moving the wings around . with that i had decided to replace the tanks

[SS7Flyer]

[quote=Bob Brocious;60430]I ran across this page in the Kitfox builder's guide that came with my 1992 Kitfox. I am wondering what owners are doing to deal with the threat of a delaminated fuel tank. Do you slosh it with a solution? Do you replace the tanks? Do you just burn 100LL?

I am concerned that my tanks are not safe especially given the material I recently pulled out of the 13 gallon tank.


What exactly did you pull out of the tank and from where? Replacing tanks is a major job requiring major down time. How long have you owned the plane? Have you ever flushed the tanks? Lots of questions that needs answered before you go straight to tear you wings into pieces and spend a significant amount of down time and money replacing tanks.

[Bob Brocious]

SS7Flyer, See attached photo. Also, the builder's log (see above photo) states that alcohol will cause the tanks to break down. These tanks are 25 years old. The 6 gallon tank was sloshed 3 times with the wing off and it still leaks. Now I'm pulling this material out of the right tank. The aircraft has 1,250 hours on it. It has never burned 100ll. I've only owned it a few months but the previous owner had it for 22 years.
The substance that came out of the tank, from around the filler neck was sticky like tar. Denatured alcohol would not take it off my fingers easily. This was an accident waiting to happen.
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