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View Poll Results: Your RV Aux Fuel is Where & Gals? Select 1 or 2 Options (comment, attach photos)
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Wing Tip Aux Fuel - Wet Fiberglass or Separate Badder/Tank
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10 |
12.82% |
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Wing Fuel Between Front and Rear Spar
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1 |
1.28% |
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Wing Fuel Leading Edge
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12 |
15.38% |
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Cabin Fuel Tank Pax Seat, Bag Compartment (Perm or Temp)
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12 |
15.38% |
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0-10 Gal
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12 |
15.38% |
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10-20 Gal
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10 |
12.82% |
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20-30 Gal
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9 |
11.54% |
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+30 Gal
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6 |
7.69% |
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No Aux Fuel - Personal Bladder Overflow Light Always On
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39 |
50.00% |

04-07-2020, 08:26 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,285
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Adding Auxiliary Fuel to your RV
Looking for suggestions, designs, recommendations of ways RV'ers added Auxiliary Fuel. Recent thread about longest range RV's, reminded me I would like to add some range / endurance, say 16 to 20 Gal (not extreme range). Over years I've seen the following (not an exhaustive list):
> Wing Tip - Aluminum tank inside Wing Tip or Wet fiberglass wing Tip
> Wing - Running Span Wise Aluminum Tube through Rib lighting Holes
> Tank (Race Car Safety Type) In Cabin - Passenger Seat or baggage compartment.
The goal is keep CG nominal and of course structurally sound and safe. I like the idea of something that can be added or even removable. Reading the recent thread many extreme range RV's used the leading edge for fuel. If anyone has some details, let us know. Bottom line if you are staying in CG and Gross Weight Limits you are limited to how much fuel you can add. The extreme range RV's were flown as much as over 30% published gross. I calculated assuming 1150 lb empty, 1800 lb gross, 35 Gal Max Aux Fuel: Solo (180 lb pilot) / No Bags / Full Wing Tanks.
If you add 120 lb passenger, 15 Gal Aux is Max. That is almost 2 hours more endurance, which is good for another 310 miles. Even a little AUX fuel is a good thing for serious cross country. RV-7 range is 765 to 935. Adding 15 Gal gives 1040 mile to 1260 mile range.
__________________
George
Raleigh, NC Area
RV-4, RV-7, ATP, CFII, MEI, 737/757/767
2020 Dues Paid
Last edited by gmcjetpilot : 04-07-2020 at 09:27 AM.
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04-07-2020, 08:47 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Savannah, GA
Posts: 1,029
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I’m not flying yet, but I built outboard leading edge tanks (see “Tuckey tanks”) with about 13/side. Main purpose is tankering fuel (planning to run mogas when possible), not really long nonstop legs. I figure I’ll have enough to get anywhere in the southeast and back without having to buy gas.
__________________
RV-7ER - finishing kit and systems installation
There are two kinds of fool in the world. The first says "this is old, and therefore good"; the second says "this is new, and therefore better".
Last edited by rmartingt : 04-07-2020 at 04:05 PM.
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04-07-2020, 08:55 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Olathe, KS
Posts: 397
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Although not quite the capacity you are looking for - I am installing the fuel bung kit in my tanks for the Hotel Whiskey Extended Range Tanks. In the -10 it gives 15 gallons (combination of tip tank and tube through ribs) of extra capacity. There are several destinations I'd like to make from the central US and it seems like the -10 is just an hour short, so this should be just what I need.
For more (pipe dream someday), I'd install a 40 gal ferry tank over the rear seats to make that hop over to the other side of the pond 
__________________
Brad Brensing
RV-10 Emp/Tailcone - Complete, QB Wings - Building, Fuse - Building
Never judge a man by his trim tabs.
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04-07-2020, 08:55 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: LSZF
Posts: 421
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Hi George
We already had a couple of thread on the subject...
Received my 25 USG (94 lt) TurtlePac Seat https://www.turtlepac.com/products/c...an-fuel-tanks/ drum a couple of hours ago... pricey, but looks rugged and high quality. My new inflatable co-pilot should be quickly and easily installed/removed and doesn?t weigh a ton. Other advantage, no vent line required.
PS
Pity to be still grounded by CoVid...
__________________
Life's short... Enjoy
DC aka Dan
http://www.aerofun.ch
RV-6.9 #25685, slider, O-360-A3A (carb/dual Lightspeed II), MTV-12-B, HB-YLL owner & lover
RV-4 #2062 HB-YVZ airframe builder
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04-07-2020, 08:58 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Nikiski, AK
Posts: 413
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Built 22 Gal Aux for PAX Seat
Designed and built a .090 thick aluminum tank last year for my flight to Idaho and back.
Did 1009 miles in 7 hours even on one of the legs. Still had 9 gal in main tanks. Gravity fed. Sump was formed by tilting the tank to fit the seat back. Used seat/shoulder harness to secure.
Used rubber hose, filter and valving to get fuel to the Vans fuel selector valve. Did use a section of clear tygon tubing to verify fuel flow just before it entered the Vans selector valve.
A friend saw what I was up too, volunteered to weld it up for me. Lucky Break!
He was an experienced marine fuel tank builder, his TIG welding skills are astounding. No leaks after one pass with his TIG torch.
Weight is around 30 lbs, tank holds 22-gal, with a 1/4 gal left in bottom when empty (no more flow). Used AN6 fittings for tubing.
Vent line was drilled to outside in the PAX side NACA inlet for cabin air. Small AN 90deg elbow fitting with opening towards the front for positive PSI.
I can take some photos of the tank after work tonight if that would help.
Mike
__________________
Mike Bauer
N999SN 1998 Syd Nelson RV-6 (purchased 2017)
UTC -09:00 Alaska
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04-07-2020, 09:07 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Southern Michigan
Posts: 1,966
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I added an additional bay on the outboards ends of my RV-9A tanks. It was a very difficult process as my tanks were QB (  ). Would have been a much easier job on a standard scratch build. I gained 3-3/4 gallons per side for another hour of flight. A lot of work for such a small gain, but I basically just wanted to extend the range and reserve a bit. Not a fan of wing tip tanks as it has a large weight arm and it adds complexity to the fuel system with feed lines and pumps.
__________________
David C.
Howell, MI
RV-10: #41686 Under Construction
RV-9A: #90949 Under Construction
RV-10: #40637 Completed/Sold 2016
Cozy MKIV:#656 Completed/Sold 2007
"Donor Exempt" but donated through Dec. 2020
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04-07-2020, 09:20 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Sunman, IN
Posts: 2,189
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tanks
I put Hotel Whiskey tanks in my -10...
__________________
Bob
Aerospace Engineer '88
RV-10
Structure - 90% Done
Cabin Top - Aaarrghhh...
EFII System 32 - Done
297 HP Barrett Hung
ShowPlanes Cowl with Skybolts Fitted - Beautiful
Wiring...
Dues+ Paid 2019,...Thanks DR+
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04-07-2020, 09:52 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 44
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I'm in the process of building tanks similar to the Tuckey Tanks, except I've kept the standard leading edge rib spacing. I've added some additional structure and done some analysis to justify this. I skipped one rib bay where the facet pump and filter will be, then used the next two as the ER tank. This gives about 8 gal per side, or 16 gal total. I figured any more than that would take up too much useful load.
This was has not been a trivial amount of work. Without looking at my logs, probably 50 hours per side and I haven't final riveted the tanks yet.
I need to do a real write up of this, but here are a couple pictures. Some of the parts are primed with AKZO, but I intend to strip them and apply an actual fuel tank primer to the ER tanks only. I figure that they will be empty a significant portion of the time and are more likely to corrode.

__________________
Zach Miller
RV-7 Empennage Complete, Wings Underway
Donation made 2020
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04-07-2020, 10:05 AM
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: ...
Posts: 112
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RV Extended Range
For the last leg of my world flight, I installed a 66g TurtlePac and 20g TurtlePac (reserve) bladder tank on the passenger seat pan. Additionally a custom 22g fiberglass/foam tank was mounted behind the pilot's seat. A 1/4" thick plywood partition was installed between seats to keep the TurtlePac tanks from encroaching in the pilot's space.
With 127 gallons total, the RV-9A has a range of 2750 nm with 20+ hours of endurance. Take-off roll is about 5,000 ft (at sea level) before the wing starts to fly. I was very careful to build up speed to 90 knots in ground effect before starting my climb. C.G. was slightly beyond aft limits, and the auto-pilot can be enabled once reaching cruise altitude. To minimize stress on the aircraft, the first 8 hours of a 17 hour flight were flown at 130 knots TAS.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mJ...oo5aq2-l_oGIkG
__________________
John Koehler
N944JK / RV-9A (600 hrs)
1st Flight (2015), Instrument rating (2017)
World Flight (2018), Mexico (2020)
Last edited by intothinair : 04-11-2020 at 09:33 AM.
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04-07-2020, 10:45 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Maryland
Posts: 23
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I've been thinking about this as well. Trying to decide whether or not to go QB wings with Hotel Whiskey tip tanks, or slow build with additional outboard tanks, or do nothing and rely on an in-cabin temporary solution only when needed (perhaps with pre-installed plumbing during the build?).
Hotel Whiskey seems like it might be an "easy" solution since many others seem to have gone that route and presumably support would be available from the vendor, etc., but adding additional outboard tanks during a slow build *seems* like it might be a "cleaner" solution, but I haven't been able to find much detailed documentation on this mod and am not am confident enough to tackle designing it myself from scratch.
__________________
Mike
RV-10 Emp. Kit in progress
N6807M Reserved
Build log: https://n6807m.wordpress.com/
Currently flying a C172
2019 Donation Made
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