Update on my last post.  I returned to Eugene, gathered my things and checked out of the Bates Hotel and into a more safe and sane establishment.  

Yesterday was mostly about fiberglass.  We worked on the engine cowl, and the wheel pants.  We also installed and tested the fuel level sensors in the wing tanks.  

You might not notice, but the plane is suspended off the floor.  This is so that we can configure the wheel pants for best performance in flight.  The picture makes it look like the plane is balanced on a saw horse.

Working with fiberglass is itchy.  The dust is actually itty bitty little shards of glass that poke into your skin and make you uncomfortable.  Here I'm connecting the two halves of the engine cowl (temporarily) so that they don't move.  Then I fit the rings in place and prepare for mounting them.  This set me up for a day of itching and scratching because of all the fiberglass dust that I liberated from the cowl.  

This is looking inside the cowl after we had laid up the rings and fiber glassed them in place.  Today we need to take the two halves of the cowl apart.  Hopefully, we will have a perfectly mated surface for the rings to mount to.  

The process of installing the fuel level sensors was not difficult, but very messy.  We put pro-seal on both sides of the gaskets and dipped each screw in pros-seal as well.  Pro-seal is a two part poly sulfite goopy sticky compound that won't come out of clothing.  It requires harsh chemicals to get it off of tools.  No matter how careful one is, this stuff will find a way to get where it isn't wanted.  

The sensors are electronic and have a variable resistance based on the position of the mechanical float.  When the float is high (full tank), the ohms meter read about 30.  When the float is low (empty tank) the ohms meter read about 250.  This resistance is translated by electronic wizardry to tell us at a glance whether we can keep going or if we need to look for fuel.

After a full day of work on the plane, I'm happy but pooped.  I stopped by a supply store for some material we need and then came back to my little peaceful hotel room.  Shower, dinner, and sleep.

It just occurred to me that this sounds like this is all about me.  But I am just one of the people working on this.  There were four others beside me working yesterday.  Bob is such  a hard working detail oriented guy.  He worked on the latch that will open the canopy.  A large part of the job was locating all the parts.  Building at Synergy is nothing like it was at home.  There we could (and did) discuss things at length.  At Synergy we are all about getting it done and Wally is the leader.  No need for lengthy discussions.  As a result, we get a lot done, but we have lost some of the social aspect of building.  We all sit in the sun and eat our lunches together, but that is about as social as it gets.  If this seems egocentric, remember that this blog  is part of my summer quarter at the college.