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MRB's - RV-14 Build log
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Date: 12-14-2015
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Number of Hours: 4.00
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Manual Reference: Sec 18
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Brief Description: Fuel Tank Assembly
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Now the fun is over. It is time to suffer a bit with that “DREADED PROSEAL THING” !
To tell you the truth, it isn’t that bad. I’ve read numerous build logs and posts describing how painful this step has become to them. Because of that, I think I’ve postpone that moment unconsciously anticipating the troubles that were to come. Again, it wasn’t that bad. Yes the stuff is terrible to work with, besides, it stinks! No harsh fumes but it smells like the inside of my septic tank. Really. But if you plan ahead, it may not become the anticipated nightmare that so many have described.
In order to make my life easier, I’ve elected to follow Rick Galati’s technique to assemble the tanks. He called that the “faying” technique which consist of buttering the parts first then cleco them together and let that set for few hours. The point behind this is to avoid fighting with fresh tank sealant that wants to stick to everything you touch. If you let the stuff set for say, 8 to 12 hours, you can then assemble parts together in a much quicker and more efficient way then the suggested buttering-cleacoing-riveting-technique found the Van’s instruction manual and will end up with a far less messy workshop. Believe it or not, following Rick’s technique allows to assemble both tanks within 60 minutes.! I’ll explain (and prove) that later.
Below are some of the tools used for mixing the sealant. I have used a weight scale bought at Walmart for about 20$. Precision is to “1 gram”. I have used trimmed out acid brushes to spread out the sealant over the parts. The brush allows for a fairly even coat of sealant thereby reducing the risk of overfilling which leads to excessive squished out sealant. Works wonderfully.
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Two cup size: 8oz and 4oz. The larger stick comes from a trimmed out regular paint stick.
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Miniature caulking gun. 20 cc syringe bought at the drug mart
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