Chapter 21.6: Strakes (Post Cure Tanks) |
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About 18 months after completing the wing/spar/strake fit check of the previous page, I'd completed the micro/finish sanding and priming of the whole plane, and we were enduring a heat wave in Austin where for over a week (not the first time) we were having 104+ weather. I used the hottest forecast day (107F) to push the fuselage out into the driveway and have the sun shine on it with a dark tarp over the strakes to help with solar absorption. It was out all day with a little bit of repositioning mid day to take advantage of the shifting sun and maximize heating. I inserted my shop remote temperature sensor into each strake tank and monitored from the comfort of the air-conditioned house. I got over 5 hours of 138+F temperatures and likely 8 hours of at least 125F before pulling it back in the garage at as the sun got lower. I considered this a good Post Cure following Gary Hunter's advice for EZ Poxy and fuel resistance.
Before pushing this out into the oven of a day, I removed all the avionics and batteries. Note that the temps in the tanks were at least 138F in the warmest part of the day which was about 5 hrs.
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Note the engine hoist in the back. It this point in the build I had the UL520is mounted on the firewall and to insure no creep in the main gear bow, I lifted on the engine mount to take all load off the tires.
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