Pitot tube critter(s)

I have my airplane in an open hangar, cause I can't afford the door yet. Anyway, yesterday morning I flew my 9A for about 30 minutes to heat up the oil and check on where folks were fishing here in south coastal Georgia.

When I got back I removed the cowling, drained the oil and changed out the oil filter. I had a problem with my lower cowl losing piano hinge teeth so I got on the forum to get some suggestions. Then I got too hot to work in the hangar and waited till today to fix the cowling hinge. Late this afternoon I was closing every thing up (about 30 hours) after the flight yesterday and noticed the pitot tube clogged up with mud/dirt. I removed the pitot tube, punched a hole in the dirt clog and blew on the other end. Dirt and 4 green larvae came out. I spent about 30 minutes cleaning the pitot tube out with pipe cleaner and alcohol.

I always cover my pitot tube, except for this one time overnight. I have found mud dobbers, dirt dobbers in the hangar before but I was surprised that they could deposit their offspring that quickly.

Since I had the cowling off I had already gone over the engine compartment thoroughly before putting everything back together.

So Beware

Tank Vents Too!!

I have stopped at a an airport for fuel, gone in to get a candy bar, and when I came back out, found a mud dauber sitting on my fuel vent, looking in the hole and sizing it up as a home....those guys work FAST!

I always put my vent and pitot covers on if I'm leaving the Val unattended for more than a couple hours - I don't like surprises....

vent covers?

Paul,

Where did you get vent covers? TIA.

I covered my tank vents with some small wire mesh screens I found at the aviation/plumbing dept at Lowes. Then fastened them with zip ties. Been on for 125 hours, no bugs.

Vent Covers

My vent covers are copies I saw on another RV-8 on our field (Thanks RV8N!)

Take a couple of inches of any fuel hose that fits snugly over the vent tubing. Put a bolt in the other end of the hose to close it off, and wrap some safety wire around the hose on the bolt threads to keep it from coming out. Attach a "Remove Before Flight" flag to the safety wire, and voil?! (Repeat for the second one....)

Paul

Get some tennis balls and poke a hole in them. Easy to see and remove.