still leaking.

 I finally ended up using a condom to seal the fuel cap on the Left tank, but alas, the tank still leaks.  I have this weekend off work and will spend the majority of my time searching for the remaining leaks.  The good news is that the fuel sender and access plates are air tight.  The bad news is that he fuel sender and access plates are air tight...  :-(

might not be so bad after all.

 I have to admit I was pretty bummed the other day.  I really thought that I had a decent chance at not having the fuel float assembly leak.   Maybe I'm still in the running.    I had to walk away for a day to get over my funk, then worked a 24 hr shift, so I didn't go out to the shop until last night.  The kids came over for Labor Day family get together.   Travis is my son-in-law who happens to be an HVAC technician.   As he puts it, "I chase leaks for a living" so he followed me out to the shop and we got to work.

I pumped up the tank to bout 15 cmH2O and the balloon ballooned.  (That's still so weird to watch Starling's Law in action!).   Travis spent about 30 seconds listening and immediately found two leaks. (I have presbycusis and even wearing hearing aids I couldn't hear a thing.)  I  One was the 6D nipple upon which I had attached the balloon. Although I had  applied thread sealant, that didn't work as well as I thought.  That got capped with the appropriate 6D cap and we repressurised.   It still started dropping, but not as fast.   Travis then noted that I had left the bicycle pump on the Schrader valve and pointed out that's just a friction fit and is a likely culprit, so that came off promptly.   Tried again;  still dropping but again dropping more slowly.

The fuel sender seal had no soap bubbles, so that made me hopeful.  I soaped up the fuel filler cap and found a nice leak at the shaft that goes through the cap from the latch to the nylon lock nut on the inside.  I put some thread sealant on it, but it still leaked.  We called it a night and I slept much better even though I haven't proved the L tank is pressure tight.

 

Tiny bubble in the center of the cap

Today, I'm at work and I just did some searching on VAF about this topic and found the following gem, which I'll try it tomorrow night when I get home from work!

 Old trick but for those have never heard it before: Put a rubber glove inside the fill port before installing the cap. That will seal and isolate the cap.

Well, damn.

 4th time was not the charm, either.   Last week we went on vacation. Before we left, I used an extra thick layer of sealant and specifically embedded the star washers and electrical lug in sealant and then covered the stack.  I had such high hopes.

After we got back on Tuesday, I got some clear 3/8" hose to use as a manometer and hooked that up to the Left tank.   I pressurized it to about 13 inH2O which is around 0.5 PSI.  That was the pressure at which the balloon inflated.   I left it overnight and was really disappointed the next morning as the balloon had deflated and the manometer showed only about 1 inH2O.

I haven't had the time nor the heart to try to find the leak yet.  I'm really hoping it's from the filler cap, as that is considered acceptable by Van's.    I really need to get the tanks sealed because I am essentially at a stand-still until they're done.     Alternatively, I might buy another table and start working on the tail surfaces while debugging the tanks.  Stay tuned.