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Paint bubbling on tanks

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pnassar

Member
I have an RV 10 completed approximately four years ago. I've had problems with air coming up through the rivets and lifting the paint on the top surface of the right fuel tank. No evidence of fuel leak or fuel on the underside of the wing. Issue appears to be cosmetic.

I am considering taking the 6 involved rivits down to bare metal with a wire wheel on a dremel and then covering with some type of adhesive and painting over.

Looking for suggestions..... thanks

Black line in picture is just marker
IMG_3256.jpeg
 
I've seen this exact same thing on Mooney's, I relieved the pressure by putting a needle into it. It looks far to late to do so in your case,
 
Use the search, lots of weeping rivet post. Some with success with wicking sealants in the area. Theirs often liquid vs air
 
pnassar said:
I have an RV 10 completed approximately four years ago. I've had problems with air coming up through the rivets and lifting the paint on the top surface of the right fuel tank. No evidence of fuel leak or fuel on the underside of the wing. Issue appears to be cosmetic.

I am considering taking the 6 involved rivits down to bare metal with a wire wheel on a dremel and then covering with some type of adhesive and painting over.

Looking for suggestions..... thanks

Black line in picture is just marker
View attachment 92808
Click to expand...
I had the same issue with a few rivets on mine. Used a needle to relieve the pressure and then warmed the area with a heat gun and pressed the bubble down carefully with a plastic squeegee.
 
Since day one of fuel in my RV8 I would release the caps when the plane was put in the hangar .
If fuel is in the vent line it will block the tank from venting until it reaches enough pressure to push the fuel up and over the high point of the vent .
The 8 the fuel vent is 12 inches or so high …… tank can have a 1/2 psi of pressure in it constantly…enough to force the gas vapor past those rivets at the top of the tank . 10 years and no paint / fuel bubbles .
 
This was a huge topic of discussion with lots of data gathered here maybe ten or fifteen years ago. Unfortunately, almost everyone involved is at (or on their way to) Oshkosh…so do some searching and try not to recreate the wheel until folks get back on line….
 
Ironflight said:
This was a huge topic of discussion with lots of data gathered here maybe ten or fifteen years ago. Unfortunately, almost everyone involved is at (or on their way to) Oshkosh…so do some searching and try not to recreate the wheel until folks get back on line….
Click to expand...
Both my RV7 and last 14 did the same thing and much worse than what you are seeing. both were QB kit but my current plane which was a SB has not done it so far. Just as others have said, poke a very small hole either with a needle or tip of a knife and the paint actually goes down and flat after a week or so.
 
After 10 years of flying my RV7. I never had anything like that happening. I had read a thread about the benefits of adding a few ounces of MMO to
each tank of fuel after a fill up to decrease the odds of sticking valves. I started doing it and soon began seeing a few of those bubbles popping up
over a few rivets. I thought about poking a tiny pin to vent the air but decided against it. The only thing I had done different was to add the MMO.
So I stopped, (never had any signs of sticking valves in this engine anyway). After some time the bubbles went away and I have not seen anymore.
I can see no reason why the MMO might have caused this but they're gone. Just a data point.
 
Bourgoin said:
I had the same issue with a few rivets on mine. Used a needle to relieve the pressure and then warmed the area with a heat gun and pressed the bubble down carefully with a plastic squeegee.
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Dave, it looks like you might have been hacked. We communicated though the VAF PM system and I was going to buy the AOA pitot tube you advertised on the classifieds here. I even sent you a test payment through Paypal as you requested. I also tried to contact you through Facebook Messenger and your Facebook page has just blocked me, even though I can still see it when I turn on the VPN so the account is still active, just blocking me. It seems like someone has hacked your page or is trying to scam me using your information here on VAF.
 
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