Karl
Thank you for the comment. This was my concern too. However, after
staring at the canoe floor, I am not so sure if there is really any
difference. Even with the standard installation, the majority of the
load is borne by on the baggage bay wall, which is eventually bonded
to the fuselage floor anyway. The floor where the baggage bay bonds
and the floor directly beneath the tank are on the same piece of
reinforced foam. So in terms of load, I can't see any difference
whether the tank is directly sitting on the canoe floor or if it is
supported by the baggage bay which is subsequently supported by the
canoe floor.
Also, I am also having a hard time understanding why the top ledge of
the tank requires a separate support. My measurement says there is
only about 2 gallons of fuel here, so 12 lbs is hardly worth bonding
with 6 plies of glass for its entire length.
If anyone has any insights into this, I'd love to hear.
Thank you!
On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 1:42 AM, Karl Heindl <kheindl@msn.com> wrote:
> Hi Andrew,
>
> I think you are going out on a limb with this idea. A full tank is a very
> heavy load and the fuselage floor is not designed to take this, or the
> designers would have placed it on the floor.
> The load should be taken up entirely by the cockpit module.
>
> Karl
>
>
>> From: asarangan@gmail.com
>> Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2013 01:01:29 -0500
>> Subject: Europa-List: Alternative fuel tank mounting?
>> To: europa-list@matronics.com
>
>>
>> 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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