Fixing a Grumman Fuel Tank Leak
or
How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Day 0.5

Towards the middle of the first day working on this, I was still wondering what I had gotten myself into. Scraping off the old sealant from the open areas in front and back of the spar was pretty easy. Some poking around above and below the spar indicated that these areas would be considerably more difficult.

This initial work was done with scrapers made from pieces of 1/4" Plexiglass with a sharp, beveled edge (see the picture of my favorite tools).

The first order of business was to establish a comfortable working position. I saw no reason (at the time) to go through the trouble of removing the wing, which meant working from below the wing, sitting, laying down, or often some combination of those positions. If I had to do this again, I probably still wouldn't remove the wing, but if I had to do a lot more resealing than the one area I had to do, I'd think carefully about it.
The scraping has begun. This shows the area above and forward of the spar.
Farther down the front of the spar. Note the scrapings piling up. Most of this was swept out by hand at intervals during the scraping, and most of the rest was vacuumed out.
Top/aft of the spar. Not much progress here yet.
Next: Day 1

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