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beauford(at)tampabay.rr.c
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 Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 7:19 am Post subject: Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. |
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Listers: I was informed by an anonymous informant that a few people on this List have been wondering whether I'm dead yet...
Not quite, but my 'puter's hard drive certainly was... ate it's own intestines, it did....everything short of bursting into flames... Still cleaning it all up, so I haven't been active on the list.
I appreciate the concern... or the morbid curiosity... whichever.... both work.
I have an item to expose to the collective wisdom of the list. I just sent a picture to the Photoshare account and I expect that Matt will have it posted on there in a day or two... a fuel line picture. Back just after the first of this year, I replaced all of the fuel line on the toy, using what I had on hand... some blue polyurethane and some clear polyurethane. Having no sense of esthetics and being somewhat tacky by nature, I intermixed the two types in a random manner throughout the system... stood back and admired my flair for decorating.
A couple of weeks ago, I went out to unfold the kleenex airplane to attempt aviation... Upon preflight, I noticed some crud in the carb float bowl... looked like small flakes of tan insect wing. The gas had been in there over a month and had mostly dried up, leaving some oil residue goo in the bottom as well... I cleaned it out... Looked in the gas tank... it was clean. Emptied the tank and dumped in a fresh load of pre-mix. I cranked the mighty 447, which ran about 30 seconds and quit. Pulled the carb bowl again and lo, it was filled with more flakes of the tan stuff... Pulled off the entire fuel system and started through it. Every piece of the blue/green line had a layer of furry tan flakes covering the walls. It was also darkly discolored, but I had seen it do this before and was not overly concerned about it staining. None of the clear line, the filter (which I cut open), the squeeze bulb, the t-fittings, or the tank had any trace of contamination in them... only the blue/green line.
I cleaned out the carb jets, replaced all the line with clear P.U. and the 447 runs normallly.
Over the years, I had heard occasional comments on this List about the blue line... usually negative, and having to do with the service life of the blue stuff as compared to Tigon or other uncolored P.U. lines... But I cannot recall ever hearing anyone describe the sort of problem I encountered in this instance. In my opinion, this stuff could be dangerous if what I encountered is commonplace.
Anyone else run across this? Did anyone determine the cause? Would appreciate any info.
A couple of fuel line takeaways for me... Continuing the float-bowl inspection as a part of the preflight is a good thing... and with pre-mix, I will not use fuel line I cannot see through to assess what is happening inside.
...break...break...
Data point: We had a fatal UL accident just north of Tampa on Saturday morning. Local guy, a well-known Captain with the county fire department crashed his CGS Hawk Arrow and killed himself and his 17 year old son... He just built the plane... took some UL instruction at a local strip and was soloed by his instructor a few weeks ago in late Sept... the instructor, who watched him take off, was quoted as being upset that the guy carried a passenger... NTSB is investigating... local press, particularly the TV news, is now on an anti-ultralight tear and is flogging it hard... "tiny engines", no licensing, high accident rates, flights without flight plans", etc.... Looking at the pictures, it appears the Hawk went into the woods nearly vertically. ..the beat goes on...
Beauford
FF #076
Brandon, FL
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Jim Baker
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 181
Location: Sayre, PA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 7:40 am Post subject: Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. |
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| Quote: | Over the years, I had heard occasional comments on this List about the blue line... usually
negative,
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With good reason.....it sucks. Yellow Tygon or Gates black are
the ticket.
Jim Baker
580.788.2779
Elmore City, OK
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biglar
Joined: 14 Jan 2006
Posts: 457
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| Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:22 pm Post subject: Don't Pay the Ransom...yet.. |
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Good to hear from ya, Beauford. We worry 'bout our buds.
I've seen that blue line deteriorate quickly, but never the problem you describe. Lar. Do not Archive.
Larry Bourne
Palm Springs, CA
Building Kolb Mk III
Vamoose
www.gogittum.com
[quote] ---
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List |
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Larry Bourne
Palm Springs, CA
Building Kolb Mk IIIC
"Vamoose" |
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