My airport can be fairly busy during the day and it does not offer self serve fueling. So we decided to fuel up for the first time in the middle of the night. This way the lineperson could spend 30 minutes with us whilst I calibrated my tanks, without holding anyone else up.
Here is the airplane, essentially fully assembled, leaving the hangar for the first time, in anticipation of getting "go juice".
After $254.74 (ouch!), here are my fueling results. I had the EIS on forward sensing yet it needed to be on reverse, so I'll need to either compensate for that or fuel up again. Also, I will need to measure when the optical sensors trip, so I'm leaving that blank for now.
| Left | EIS | Right | EIS | |
| Empty | 0.8 | 14.5 | 0.5 | 14.3 |
| Optical | ||||
| Full | 22.7 | 19.6 | 20.5 | 19.9 |
| Extra | 2.7 | 4.9 | ||
| Total Capacity | 25.4 | 25.4 |
Sadly, the left tank was leaking about a drip per second. This came as a surprise to me as the tanks were successfully leak tested. It looked as though only the VA-261 Fuel Strainer fitting was leaking. But with the tank on, we just could not be sure of the source.
So, after making an emergency visit to a store at 2:30 AM to buy four more 5 gallon gas containers, we salvaged nearly 25 gallons of fuel from the left tank. The next day, following 4 hours of sleep, we dropped the left tank.
Then we filled it up with a gallon-ish of fuel, flipped it over and searched for the leak. Indeed, it was the Fuel Strainer fitting. That's an easy fix.
However, we also noticed a small blue stain on the wing spar about 2 inches outboard of where the third-from-inboard tank rib would be located (somehow, I deleted that image). This suggested that the baffle was leaking in that area. However, there was no evidence of a baffle leak, by way of any blue staining, on the tank itself (other than at the fitting previously described). And, the tank was not leaking in that area when filled with fuel and placed upside down. Yet, the tank could hold air! Utterly flummoxed, I decided to mix up some sealant and go over the Tank Attach Zee and baffle rivets in that area, just to be sure.
However, we also noticed a small blue stain on the wing spar about 2 inches outboard of where the third-from-inboard tank rib would be located (somehow, I deleted that image). This suggested that the baffle was leaking in that area. However, there was no evidence of a baffle leak, by way of any blue staining, on the tank itself (other than at the fitting previously described). And, the tank was not leaking in that area when filled with fuel and placed upside down. Yet, the tank could hold air! Utterly flummoxed, I decided to mix up some sealant and go over the Tank Attach Zee and baffle rivets in that area, just to be sure.
The left tank was then drained again and resintalled. Here I am torquing the bolts.
I'll know in two weeks, after the sealant cures and I can put some fuel in that left tank, if the leaks were addressed.
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