Saturday, December 9, 2017

Chapter 21 Strakes - Fuel caps

These are not the plans Usher fuel caps.  Several folks recommended the Newton caps because they don't leak and you can use just your fingers to remove them for fueling.  Locking versions are available.  The two hole saws (2 1/4 and 2 1/2) worked well.   Cut the 2 1/4 hole through the top layer first but not through the inside skin.   Then make a cut with the 2 1/2 hole saw just through the top skin and then clean the foam and micro off the glass where the flox needs to bond.  In retrospect, installing these caps before glassing the top skins on is probably better.   You can more easily decide where you want the caps to be.   Also you'll have less debris in your tanks.  I'm not sure how well the caps would hold pressure for the leak test.  Edit-they held pressure fine. 
Don't try to clean the debris out with a vacuum.   The air rushing into the opening will scatter particles everywhere in the tank.   Vance recommended this duct tape trick.  I also used some wet paper towels to mop up the junk that fell in.  A long skinny dowel worked good for dabbing with duct tape and "mopping" with the damp paper towels. 



Flox filled in the gap between the skins for a glass to glass bond.  Then the neck was cleaned with alcohol and then buttered.   A short piece of pop sickle stick with electrical tape just long enough to catch the inside flange was wired to the longer stick.   The neck was buttered with flox and gently allowed to settle down through the flox.  The extra that squeezed through dropped onto a paper towel inside the tank.   Visible flox that was dripping was carefully extracted before it hardened.   The neck needs to be oriented properly.   The top surface of the cap will be slightly higher than the strake surface when they're installed.

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