So yeah, not much done these last few days. We had a Halloween party on Friday, and most of the preceding evenings were spent getting ready for that. Yesterday, in turn was spent recovering from said party. I had originally intended to close up the right tank today, but some events from the past few days made me change my mind.
Something like last Wednesday, I did have time to run out to the garage, install the leak test kit on the left tank, and pressurize the thing. I figured I’d let it sit for a day or two and see if it held air. Sadly, when I went out to check the next night, the balloon on the vent line fitting had deflated. That was a bit of an ego hit, thinking about the possible need to open this thing right back up to fix some leaks. But it occurred to me that the air might be leaking out around the balloon too.
So today I took the tank out in the driveway, pressurized it again, and started spraying soapy water all over the thing to look for air leaks. Lo and behold, the only place where I got some bubbling action was…around the base of the ballon. I made sure to thoroughly wet down the baffle seals, since those were the most likely leak source…no bubbles!
Of course, by the time I did this, it was too late in the day to start closing the right tank, so I guess that’ll wait until next weekend. But hey, the end is in sight!
In other news, I also scheduled my first tailwheel lesson for next Saturday down at Texas Taildraggers. I popped down to AXH this past Saturday to meet Joy and verify that I could, in fact, fit into a Citabria. It’s tight, but it’ll work – the main problem is being able to get full back stick with my gut in the way. Sounds like we’ll probably end up removing the setback cushion and replacing it with something thinner just to ensure I get full control authority. I really should get on losing some of this weight…