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Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:48:35 -0500
From: Ernest Christley <echristley@att.net>
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To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: Steve Brooks Cozy
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I reluctantly made a decision to not trust sealing a gas tank to any petrochemical that is shipped to me in a liquid
form.  You never know what all those petrochemical engineers in Congress will decide mandate to be put into our fuel
next.  So I welded a fuel tank and glassed that into the place that was designed for a fiberglass tank.  I would have
preferred buying a premade poly-ethylene or aluminum racing tank, but I couldn't find one that even came close to fitting.

Aren't the Cozy tanks just big cubes sitting inside the wing roots?  Would it be safer, and possibly easier, to buy a
tank, sit it in the, and glass it into place?


Bill Schertz wrote:
> There are two areas that may influence this.
>  
> On my plane,
> 1.    I did the Jeffco coating, but when you glue the closeout piece in
> place, the seam is not covered, so I worried that that would be a point
> of attack.
> 2.    Another builder and I did a test, I coated samples of fiberglass
> with Jeffco and the structural epoxy, and he did an immersion test in
> gasoline with ethanol. The regular epoxy (Aeropoxy) flaked off rapidly,
> the Jeffco did not, however it DID swell, and gain weight, which
> indicated to me that it was letting some of the solvent through to the
> underlying epoxy, therefore I decided that I could not trust it with
> ethanol.
>  
> Bill Schertz
> KIS Cruiser #4045
> N343BS
> Phase one testing Completed
>  
> *From:* Steve Brooks <mailto:cozy4pilot@gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Thursday, December 01, 2011 2:51 PM
> *To:* Rotary motors in aircraft <mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
> *Subject:* [FlyRotary] Re: Steve Brooks Cozy
>  
> 
> Bill,
> 
> Apparently I did get some Ethanol.  I had used the Jeffco sealant on the
> tanks - 3 coats, when I built it.  Supposedly it is impervious to most
> anything, but apparently that is either not correct, or I missed a
> pinhole somewhere.
> 
>  
> 
> Steve
> 
>  
> 
> *From:* Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net]
> *On Behalf Of *Bill Schertz
> *Sent:* Thursday, December 01, 2011 7:18 AM
> *To:* Rotary motors in aircraft
> *Subject:* [FlyRotary] Steve Brooks Cozy
> 
>  
> 
> Steve,
> 
> Were you running Auto fuel with Ethanol in your tanks?
> 
>  
> 
> Bill Schertz
> KIS Cruiser #4045
> N343BS
> Phase one testing Completed
> 
>  
> 
> *From:* Steve Brooks <mailto:cozy4pilot@gmail.com>
> 
> *Sent:* Thursday, December 01, 2011 5:29 AM
> 
> *To:* Rotary motors in aircraft <mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
> 
> *Subject:* [FlyRotary] Re: Rotary Plane on Mythbusters
> 
>  
> 
> Hi Kelly,
> 
> Yeas, I've been quiet for a while, but still lurking.  It has been 2
> years since I last flew the Cozy.  I had an engine issue, and I had the
> plane in the garage for almost a year swapping the engine, and adding
> the EM3.  I ended up changing jobs and moving about an hour away, so I
> moved the plane back to the airport before I was quite ready, and then
> while tuning, I noticed that I had developed a leak in the left fuel tank. 
> 
>  
> 
> At this point I need to get the plane moved to my new house, so that I
> can open up the tank, and repair any damaged foam, and re-glass and
> paint it.  I should already have done it, but between work, and home
> projects,  I haven't taken the time.  I also need to arrange with a
> wrecker company or someone to move it.
> 
>  
> 
> I did buy another plane though, a Socata Tampico, so that I could still
> do some flying.  The plan is to fix the Cozy, and then sell one of
> them.  I prefer to keep the Cozy, but the wife really like the Socata,
> so I'm not yet sure how that will work out. 
> 
>  
> 
> Steve Brooks
>