Setback -- The Fuel Tanks Leak. A lot.

Well, I finally had an opportunity to work on the fuel tanks again.  I lost a day or so because I never read the manual on the little bicycle tire pump and I was putting it on incorrectly.  I thought it was defective and went to the aviation division of Walmart to find a pump with a different kind of connector.  There weren't any.  There was, however, one brand that thoughtfully provided an instruction card and I learned I had been trying to attach the pump while it was in the locked position.  Duh.

I got home, correctly attached the pump and tried to pressurize the left tank.  The balloon barely quivered with each stroke.   Damn.

Armed with my granddaughter's bubble soap, I put the tank on stands out on the driveway and liberally soaped up all of the seams, the access panels, the fuel sender, the supply lines, vent lines and balloon neck.   Nada.  I can't generate any bubbles at all.   I'm pretty bummed.   I washed off the soap and put the tank back on a solid table.   I rigged up the right tank and got equally nowhere, but I didn't bother to soap it up.

I've learned not to do anything when I get into a spot like this.  By doing nothing, I can't make it worse.  The fact that both tanks are completely incapable of holding any pressure at all implies that I'm missing something fundamental that will probably be obvious in retrospect once I find out what it is.

Tonight, I'm going to think about options.  I'll write to Van's and ask how they pressure tested the tanks without them being sealed and see if that sparks any intuition.  I'll look into acquiring a 4' x 6' x 1' plastic tub and might try to immerse the tanks under water and look for bubbles that way. (That's going to be 240 lb of buoyant force to deal with, so I'll need some brawn to help!)   I'll check w/ some RV builders at DLZ and invite them to come help me troubleshoot.   Something.

Tomorrow is a day off and I don't want to throw it away by doing nothing at all, so I'll start on the next section of constructing the aft spar and ribs.  As long as I don't attach anything to the tanks, I am maintaining their current state and not impairing my ability to troubleshoot later.