Wing Tank Surgery
[0.5 hours] The Wing tanks came out of my wings today. The tanks are long 7″ diameter aluminium tubes that stretch the entire length of the leading edge. The wings came off of J Frakes/D Gilbert/S Milton Coot (which is now owned by Miles Simons, who sold me just the wings). According to Coot in a Nutshell, the Frakes et al. Coot was completed in 1987 and flew for 17 hours. The fabric has been removed from the wings, and minor repair and restoration is needed, but these puppies have flown.
I don’t know if the wing tanks have ever been used, but they look fully functional. The wing tanks are free to the first Coot builder who comes to get them! Let me know if you want a photo.
Back to the wings. The large hole in the leading edge ribs is supposed to be 6″ (as I recall). But, my wings will have 7 1/8 inch holes. This should not be a problem (as suggested by Richard Steeves), so long as I can get good attachment to the fiberglass leading edges. I’ll have to check how well they are currently attached and if badly, I may pull them off and re-attach them using the method that Richard recommends in The Essential Coot.