Today, I didn't have to work as it was my Friday off>>  WooHoo!!!  It looked like a beautiful day outside, so with my usual routine, I came down and checked the weather for today and was shocked to see that the Omaha area had set a new record low temperature.  You know, I just got done installing an air conditioner in the garage because this area is usually so hot and for the last week and a half, the temps have been fabulous.  We are even seeing record low temperatures.

Today's weather was awesome...  It got into the mid 70's, sunny with winds <5 mph.  I just couldn't resist getting the Goldwing out and putting some miles on today.  I cleaned up the garage as it looked like a tornado came through there.  Sealing fuel tanks has taken its tole on my organizational efforts.  By the time I got that all straightened up, Tami came home from work so we took off for a motorcycle ride.  We ended up in Shenandoah Iowa.  We swung by the municipal airport and watched a student practice some touch and go's in the beautiful weather.  I was torn, I wanted to be flying and riding...  To many hobbies, not enough good weather or time.  Anyway, I took my tank sealant helper out for dinner for all of her support so far and so I can guilt her into helping me seal the baffle in place later this weekend.

I did manage to get a couple of odds and ends done on the tank.  I am more or less taking my time making sure that I am not forgetting anything and looking over all my tank sealant "BLOBS" making sure I have adequate coverage.  I don't want any leaks after I seal the baffle plate in place.  I noticed that after I had sealed the rib with the flap door, the door rubbed up against the tank sealant fillet.  I didn't want the door to dig a hole in the tank sealant over time, so I removed the door and took it over to the bench grinder to reshape the flap door on the forward edge.  A couple of seconds on the bench grinder, viola...  I re-installed the flap door and it no longer rubs on the tank sealant fillet (and it still covers the tooling hole).  WooHoo...  EASY FIX!!

To hold the trap door hinge pin in place, I just dabbed some tank sealant over the bent hinge pin.  I made sure that the amount of tank sealant I put on here would not interfere with the rear baffle, when installed.

Next I slopped some solder on the BNC connector for the capacitance fuel sender.  Okay....  I am an ELECTRICIAN and we live by the following creed when it comes to soldering: "The Bigger The Blob, The Better The Job".  Therefore, this is a great job.  No really, my solder work would not impress any electronics guru that has a lot of (or even a little) soldering expertise.  I gave the connection a good tug to ensure it was secure (you don't want a cold solder joint) and then measured the resistance between the center of the BNC connector and the capacitance plate.  I got a value of less than 0.2 ohms.  The test leads alone measure 0.1 ohms so my reading is good.  I then measured from the center of the BNC connector to the rib (to see if I had a ground) and the multimeter indicated over range (OL) which is a high resistance and a good reading.

I covered the back side of the BNC connector with ample tank sealant and I also covered the wire with tank sealant back a couple of inches as the tank sealant also provides some limited strain relief for the wire.  Additionally, the tank sealant covering the wire will prevent fuel from "wicking" up the wire into the BNC connection.  The BNC is a potential source of leakage as it can only be sealed on one side.  Most everything on the tank can be sealed on both sides thereby having more than one sealant boundary.

While doing some research on installing a fuel vapor return line, I came across a short article in a book I am borrowing' "21 years of the RVator" and it talks about the flop tube o-ring coming off the brass pickup.  Van's recommends to proseal this o-ring in place to prevent it falling off after the tank is closed up.

You know, I wished that Van's would just put this information in their instructions or just sell the flop tube with this o-ring already sealed in place.  But then again, they pretty much lack any useful information regarding the flop tube installation so why add this nugget of information either?

As with Van's instructions in the 21 years of the RVator, I put some tank sealant under the o-ring on the flop tube brass pick-up to hold it in place.

I broke down and purchased a Fluke 177 DMM.  Some type of multimeter or test equipment should be used to check the capacitance sender installation prior to closing up the tank.  This would also apply to the resistance (float) sender too.  I figure that this meter will come in handy throughout the project's electrical installations.