Sport Pilot Talk

khipp · Joined: 27 Jun 2008 Posts: 6

has anyone installed the avid/kitfox plastic wing tanks?

Here is the website

http://wingtanks.com/abouttanks.html

No address, no phone number. No physical location. Not even a state or town.
They say send money and we will send tanks,.

Are they real? Or is this a ripoff located in Pakistan?

Karl

SkySteve · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject:

According to the guys on the Kitfox Matronics site they are real.

dholly · Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:27 am Post subject:

Karl:

They are very much for real. I personally know the Avid Mk-IV owner who's plane is shown on the site as a representative retro install. He cut the tops off and installed these poly tanks inside his factory wing tanks as a solution to the ethanol issue. You may recall the original 14 gal. 'wrapped' style of Avid fiberglass wing tanks were made with polyester resin which, of course, is attacked by ethanol in auto gas. There are additional builder install pics in the Avid Flyer Yahoo Group Photo Files.

I believe the wingtanks.com site is operated by Airdale, LLC, successor parts supplier for Avid owners and manufacturer of the Airdale and Avid+ LSA kit planes. They have poly wing tank install kits and procedures for new build or retro fit into all Avid models A-D (Mk-IV) and KF models I-V undercamber or laminar flow wing foils. Airdale is operated by only a handful of employees so if you don't get an immediate reply, don't fret try again.

Some additional info which may prove helpful: Skystar subsequently developed a 13 gal. 'slip-in' style fiberglass wing tank alternative to the older 'wrapped' tanks. Unlike the original kit-supplied wing tanks, these tanks set below rather than flush with the capstrips. This saved countless hours of wing build time as there is NO fiberglassing necessary. In my opinion, they offer improved aesthetics as well, since fabric is no longer glued to the tanks and the wing rib look is carried right to the root.

Unfortunately, they too were manufactured using polyester resin early on and were prone to seeping. Skystar temporarily 'solved' this issue by adding a can of KREEM tank sloshing sealant with each KF kit. Sometime around '02-'03, Skystar stopped supplying or using KREEM and began manufacturing these tanks with Atlac vinylester resins for improved alcohol resistance. I sourced a set of these for use in my Avid Mk-IV w/ Heavy Hauler wings (the Kitfox model I-III undercamber rib is almost a exact copy of the Avid HH and S.T.O.L. undercamber ribs), very nice tanks but, again, not ethanol proof.

Interestingly, it appears the new Kitfox Aircraft Co. has made yet another resin formulation change to these tanks recently for even better alcohol resistance. John McBean posted the following Feb. 17, '08 on the Matronics Kitfox list:

Quote: We have done some changes over that past 6 months... although I do not think our tanks as of 1996 to 2007 have had any specific issues. (no reported issues)

As of this year we are using a new resin. To date.. we have put some pretty harsh materials in them with no effect. For the last several months they have had both 10% and 85% ethanol fuels in them and no effect.

I will not go into the details of the resins as it is proprietary information.

Fly Safe !!
So.... looks like a couple of viable alternatives, one 100% impervious and the other 99%(?) resistant to the E10 most of us have to contend with in the US. I'm in the process of deciding which way to go on my current build but haven't called Kitfox yet for the skinny on their new tanks. Hope that helps some.

khipp · Joined: 27 Jun 2008 Posts: 6

Thanks for the feedback. I have ordered a plastic tank from Airdale.

Karl