Smoke Tank In Wing

[grumman41]

I’ve got a smoke tank located in the right leading edge of my RV6. I’ve looked thru the builders log and only found a few hand sketches and vague references of getting this “approved” by an engineer or Vans.

With this vague info and pictures I don’t expect an analysis. I didn’t want to drop the names I seen on the builder notes as they not want to be involved in this discussion. I do have concerns about the lower wing skin being cut out for the smoke tank, is this something I should check out?
Thanks, Kevin

 

[rv8ch]

Kevin, If it makes you feel uncomfortable, certainly get it checked out. I know another builder that doubled the fuel in the wings with a second tank outboard of the standard tanks on his RV-4. He also had fuel in some custom-made wing tanks. He built the -4 for intercontinental travel, and it's served him well in that capacity, visiting three continents that I know of.

I have not seen smoke oil in a wing tank - an interesting idea.

 

[rvbuilder2002]

Not sure if you are aware but Joe Blank was employed at Vans Aircraft (tech. support) at the time that modification was done, so I imagine some consultation was done during that process.

 

[grumman41]

Scott, I did see a few emails where the builder conversed with another builder about having this looked at. Joe was very conscientious, may be safe to make the assumption that this has been “graced”. Just thought it would be a good idea to run it through the forum.
Kevin

 

[rvbuilder2002]

Scott, I did see a few emails where the builder conversed with another builder about having this looked at. Joe was very conscientious, may be safe to make the assumption that this has been “graced”. Just thought it would be a good idea to run it through the forum.
Kevin

You will never find anyone at vans that will say that Joe was given an official approval from engineering for this modification.
For it to have been done “ officially”, it would have involved some actual engineering calculations that probably would be in his build notes and doing some follow up static load testing on the wing after the modification was done, and I’m pretty sure that never happened.

I was just pointing out that he did consult with others, including myself.

I don’t mean for this to sound the wrong way, but coming here to the forums asking for “opinions” based on just a couple of photographs is not likely to be of much value unless all you’re looking for is a bunch of people saying that it looks good and not likely any different than the extended fuel tanks that some people have installed.

I flew the airplane some after Joe passed, and I never had a bit of concern about the modification because I did nothing other than normal flight operations. If I was flying it and considering some hard aerobatics, it would probably be a bit more on my mind.

 

[grumman41]

Original post:
With this vague info and and pictures I don’t expect an analysis.

This said, I wasn’t looking for approval for on this but thought with the experienced builders and engineers here someone might ring the bell if this looked amiss.

Thanks for the input gentlemen!