I cannot believe the amount of traffic this subject is causing but lets put a few things into perspective. First if you tie the tail low to sump you tanks the water which seeks the lowest point will move aft away from the sump drain in the wings. Sort of defeats the purpose but does give you some exercise. In most cases the fuel tanks on a coupe are not magically water magnets. They are for the most part no more subject to water in the tank than a 150 as long as the gaskets are in decent shape.
For those of you who have leaky float gauges or cap gaskets I might suggest you put a can or cup over it, not very exciting but it does work and may only cost you for a cup of coffee. Now as for the center tank well don't be afraid to really drain the gascolator. IF you only use one of those little sump cups with the screw driver on the end well sooner or later you may get a whole cup full of water and no fuel and mistake it for fuel. You wouldn't be the first one. Fuel ain't that expensive feel free to dump a bunch if you have a water problem. Oh before I end this tirade let me suggest you take a bottle fill it with gasoline (mark the level) and add a little water(mark the new level) , shake it up and see how long it takes for the water to settle out. Depending on how much alcohol it may take quite a long time. I know there isn't suppose to be any in there but don't count on it if you use mogas. Harry, as for your ice in the tail cone I should think that as you rotated you should have been able to sense the aft CG problem and assuming that you had at least a 2500 ft runway should have shut down as soon as you realized all was not right. In a 140 that should be plenty of room. It's considered bad karma to try to fly a plane when you know something is wrong and you have a choice, at least until you identify the problem and know the risks. Dave 41 Charlie Dave's Ercoupe Page http://www.flash.net/~dmprosvc/dave
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