Proseal question

[warmi]

Hi,
When looking at example of proseal applications inside a fuel tank , you can often see little strands of proseal hanging off of various directions ( especially when trying to seal rivet heads ) - obviously this stuff is extremely sticky and very hard to get applied in a non-messy manner - I wondering what is the risk of these strands breaking off and then floating in a tank and possibly clogging things down the line ..

Thanks

 

[fixnflyguy]

It's hard to eliminate all the sealant cobwebs if you're a newbie at sealing, and most of them stay put fairly well and are harmless. The pick-up tubes should have screens to prevent a rogue piece of debris in the event one does fall off. If you ever see the back of one of the closed end pop rivets, you may cringe..when I isnstall them, I try to spin them all the way through to minimize the "worm" on the inside. When topcoat sealing rivet heads, or any other internal sealing, I personally use the thinner variant ("A" rather than "B"). I work in the big jet industry, and spend quite a bit of time inside the tanks, and you will never find string webs anywhere (from production), as the sealant teams make it all buttery smooth. ..but when repairs are done, they are easy to spot and often have what you are referring too. I see very little in the big jets or RV's that has fallen off and caused problems. Here is a set of RV-4 tanks I cut open and re-sealed..the inside looks same as the outside. You can see how the "A" sealant topcoat flows with brush application...no spider webs here.

 

[Ralph Inkster]

Sounds like the proseal is being dabbed on, pulling the applicator vertically away from the rivet or seam.
Try smearing it on, smoothing the surface of the proseal as you go. I use my gloved finger like a spatula.

 

[bruceh]

Having just spent the better part of this month repairing the insides of a pair of RV-6A tanks, I don't think you have anything to worry about with these little strands. They are very much stuck in place. Even on unprepared (unscuffed) surfaces.

 

[skelrad]

I wouldn't worry about much coming off, but for sealing rivet heads, I used a syringe that had a big plastic tip on it - I cut the tip so it was as big as it could get (probably 2x th diameter of the rivet head), then loaded it up with proseal. Super easy to cleanly seal the heads that way. Just put the tip over the rivet head and push down to fully encapsulate the area with no mess.