Paint or do fuel tanks??

[MATTS875]

I have a question, I am debating on a paint job for my plane. I have not re sealed the tanks and do not currently have leaks of any kind, is it generally ok to paint the plane or should I go ahead and do the tanks first? I know its not a matter if the tanks will leak ,but when will the tanks leak.I can't do both right now but would like to get started fixing it up like I want it

[PTK]

It's a tough one. If there are no leaks what would you do to the tanks now? 

[Hank]

Matt--

It all depends on the condition of your tanks, where you plan to get them redone, and the condition of your paint. Personally, I think your paint job is distinctively and classically retro. Your avatar looks nice!

The Weep No More process uses a chemical stripper pumped and recirculated in your tanks, and is advertised to cause "minor" damage around the inspection panels. Talk to someone who has had this done and see how much was involved.

Wet Wingologists primarily hand-scrape the tank seams, and most likely use some stripper for heavy accumulations, difficult-to-remove patch jobs and  hard to reach areas [my personal speculation, and what I would do if I had to hand-scrape the tanks!]. Again, talk to someone who has had this done and see what happened.

Midwest Mooney uses a different, proprietary sealer at about a 30% price premium over these two. But I don't remember what they said about how they do the stripping, other than no poles are involved.  :-(  Sorry about that!

Your decision boils down to this:  what bothers you most? Is your paint in bad shape? When were the tanks last sealed? Are you a bladder fan? Do you keep your tanks at least half full while parked? How afraid are you of leakage starting soon? Do you enjoy showing off your plane, or are you not proud of the paint scheme/condition?

[jlunseth]

My tanks were leaking badly a few years ago. I chose to have full strip and polyurethane reseal at Midwest M20. No leaking since the reseal. Had plane painted summer 2010. Glad I did it in that order. Would not have wanted fuel leaking on new paint. 

[mooneyman]

Quote: jlunseth

My tanks were leaking badly a few years ago. I chose to have full strip and polyurethane reseal at Midwest M20. No leaking since the reseal. Had plane painted summer 2010. Glad I did it in that order. Would not have wanted fuel leaking on new paint. 

[Piloto]

Quote: MATTS875

I have a question, I am debating on a paint job for my plane. I have not re sealed the tanks and do not currently have leaks of any kind, is it generally ok to paint the plane or should I go ahead and do the tanks first? I know its not a matter if the tanks will leak ,but when will the tanks leak.I can't do both right now but would like to get started fixing it up like I want it

[Piloto]

Quote: MATTS875

I have a question, I am debating on a paint job for my plane. I have not re sealed the tanks and do not currently have leaks of any kind, is it generally ok to paint the plane or should I go ahead and do the tanks first? I know its not a matter if the tanks will leak ,but when will the tanks leak.I can't do both right now but would like to get started fixing it up like I want it

[KSMooniac]

You might have an expert inspect the fuel tank sealant condition first and get an opinion.  If they're not leaking now, and if the expert says the sealant is still in good condition (ie not turning to dust, or peeling off in chunks) then I would be inclined to paint now and not worry about the tanks until they need it.  The advantage to this is near term cost avoidance, and less time on resealed tanks at some point in the future if/when you sell.

I had my leaking tanks fixed in 2008 at Willmar with Paul, then painted in 2009.  My original 1977 paint was in good condition, but had peeled in a few places around the airframe over 30 years.  There was a little more paint missing around some of the lower inspection panels after the tank work, but it wasn't bad.  If you paint soon, you might ask the shop to use a razor to "score" the paint at the access panels before it cures so that when they are removed in the future they will be less likely to peel from the broken edge.

[Cris]

If you paint now be sure to get some extra touchup paint with the thought that you will be able to repaint the seams or possiblly the wing panals where the access panals reside. Assuming the best case you will have a beautiful paint job that you are proud of for years to come. Assuming the worst case you will have to do touch up and a quality reseal shop will make it virtually unnoticible. If they are ham fisted as mine was when I resealed the tanks the paint shop did a great job of matching the color so that it is really not noticible. Like Piloto says if it aint broke don't fix it!

[pjsny78]

I hope this helps as I was in kind of the same situation as you. I called Paul beck at weep no more. He says that you have to do the fuel tank issues before paint or you will run into problems if you do it in the reverse order. Now I did not need a major reseal. I just had some panels resealed. But you may want to call him and talk to him. He is a great guy and extremely honest. After Paul did my tanks I brought it to artcraft to get painted. I got my first 2 pics today which I uploaded to the site.

Anyways I hope this helps and a call to Paul will pay dividends.

 

[Piloto]

Matt if you have no leaks I am pretty sure the sealant is in good condition. Leaks develop well before any visible deterioration.

 

José