I am hoping someone can comment on an alternative tank mounting
strategy. A picture of what I am thinking is attached.
To avoid any potential stresses developing due to tank expansion, I am
thinking of horizontally bracing the fuel tank against the baggage
bay wall using two fiberglass straps all the way around the tank - one
strap below the tank ledge and the other just above the outlet bosses.
These straps are for simply maintaining the fore/aft and lateral
position of the tank. Vertically, the tank will simply sit on the
fuselage floor. The tank bottom is nearly flush with the baggage bay
floor, so it should sit nice and even on the fuselage. With this
setup, I have satisfactory clearance between the spars, pitch tube and
the tank outlets. I plan to add a thin neoprene pad around the tank
bottom to make sure there are no hard points of contact between the
tank and the fuselage. The neoprene is oil resistant, non-absorbent
and has fire resistance.
Since this is such an irreversible step, I want to make sure I am
thinking this through correctly. Probably the larger questions are,
will the fuselage floor be able to take the entire tank load? Is there
any issue with letting the top portion of the tank (the ledge)
floating with no vertical support?
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