Hi guys.The problem with the Urethane foam is it crushes with NO rebound... So
if you dent your skin, yes the fibreglass skin comes back but the foam does not
and there is an unavoidable void there, without a question of doubt. I have
seen a lot of de-lamination of old Kr's just in the uk that used the old
Urethane foam. If you get a coin and tap around the Urethane wings, you will
hear it much more than see it. Is it a problem? Not really. My 15 year old
wings are battered and bruised, but there are no delaminations because I didn't
use Urethane.As for water ingress, well as long as the urethane foam is
completely sealed within an epoxy skin then water ingress is not a problem, so
just make sure you coat it 100% in microslurry. I held a tailplane off a
crashed kr that was left outside with the foam core exposed. I could hardly
pick it up, it was full of water. When I turned it upside down, water dripped
from the urethane foam. Just food for thought. Ever wondered why your plane
gains weight but never looses weight?Again, though, I just don't see why anyone
would want to use Urethane foam and have to skim it with heavy micro balloons
before laying up on it. That is unless you want to put fuel in the wings. I
didn't see a need to do that.I have a 22 gallon tank that is positioned, as per
plans, in the fuselage. It is in an aluminum tank and I have a re-movable top
deck which is easy to fit and allows access within minutes to tank, back of the
panel and rudder pedals and brakes. This 22 gallon tank gives me 4 hours plus a
little reserve.Looking at the 3100cc Corvair burning just 4 gph running 160 mph
economy cruise, I wish I had fitted that. I can't get anything like that in
performance. I get no more than 110 mph if I bring my 520 lb empty weight
Jabiru powered plane down to 4 gallons an hour. My jabiru is only 75 hp and
burns 5.2 gallons at 120mph which is my cruise best. Again the performance
figures that some of you guys get with your 0.200 powered 750 lb empty weight
kR's and Corvairs is truly outstanding and to be admired. To do this next part
of my trip, I've got another 15 gallons sitting in a ferry tank on the
passengers seat. That will give me 37 gallons and about 7 hours if I need it or
just about 800 miles.Most of the flights I do I try for about 3 hour flights.
So no need for a pee tube or anything like that. If I have to do a 7 hour
flight, then I'll cut down drinking a day or two before. It's never been a
problem yet?I used the ferry tank to try and fly around the UK, some 2,000 nm
in a day for a competition back in 2008. I spent 16 hours in the plane that
day, but only 5 to 6 hours at a time with no problems. I got rained out the sky
so couldn't finish the course. I flew 1,600 nm in the day. It was fun, but not
something I would want to do every day.Regards,Colin Hales. Anchorage.
