Ventus ballast leak

In UK on my Mosquito Bw endless wing tank leaks were cured
with swimming pool paint and a wonderful smart fluid called
Fernox F4, which is used for sealing leaks in central heating
systems.

As for sealing dump valve rubbers, we swear by Vaseline, which
has alternative use for sexual activity (smear it on the door
handle - it stop the kids getting into the bedroom)

bw BB


At 20:37 14 October 2010, Cliff Hilty wrote:
Yes to all of the fixes, but eventually (if you fly alot with water)
you
will need to have it fixed. Mine, ser # 214, was flown for 3
years with a
rubber glove fix and the beeswax idea but, each time the rod
is actuated,
it would leak again until eventually it rusted the steel rods (and
Cindy
both of my rods were steel) to the point that it wouldn't turn
any more.
My Mechanic, replaced them both with stainless steel and new
bellows.
Which with any luck should last without further repairs until I
sell it or
my estate gets it Hopefully the latter, much later

Interesting note was that after that repair, a few years, I
noticed
leakage in the leading edge. That turned into a refinish and
when the old
finish was taken off, there were multiple pin holes in the top of
only one
wing through the fiberglass and the water was migrating under
the
deteriorating gelcoat. That was repaired by vacuming thinned
out epoxy
resin into the pin holes and then tested before refinishing.
Otherwise my
Ventus has produced many good flights and memories

Another note to the V2C that said he had a problem with rod
leakage, I
could be mistaken, but I thought they had changed to an "O-
Ring" seal as
with the nimbus 3 and later models with screw-in face plate
that goes over
the rod. Don't remember exactly though.

Good Luck, after all they ARE airplanes!


At 22:28 13 October 2010, CindyB wrote:

To Cindy, since I'm in Brazil I unfortunately cannot bring
the plane
for fixing at Caracole. Do you have any pictures on the fix
you have
done? The hole was cut on the underside of the wing, right?
Do you
know the position of the center?

Okay - I admit to weak Google skills.

Send an email address to me directly and we will see what
we can send.
I'm at info at caracole-soaring.com
Yes, we took a few photos mid-process.
No - they didn't tell us where to center the hole.
And the hole for access was top side.

Thanks for admitting you were geographically awkwardly
located to use our professional services...... when a shop
goes
through a learning curve like that, they don't expect to hand
off the info willy-nilly. Generic girly descriptions however,
can be
freely shared for general education on the aging fleet at
large.

smile,

Cindy B
www.caracole-soaring.com

Now I have a plan of action: Will use the chapstick method and live
with the leak till the next rainy season when aside to changing the
ailerons and flap seals, I'll fix the ballast leak using the brute
force method that Cindy told us.

Since we are here at this discussion about the Ventus I'd like to post
another doubt for which I also did not get any reply from S&H. Is
there any special hint to remove the ailerons / flaps?

Just a note:
I must confess I'm disappointed with S&H because I received no reply
to my emails after querying them this problem. When I used to have and
STD Jantar the SZD people were much more friendly.

Thank you guys