Don at Work Introducing Don
fitting the engine
fitting the rear cowling
without cowling and engine
June 27th, 2001
Building the fuel system on the Cozy 4.
The tanks, the baffles, the vents, the lines, the drains, the filters, and the fuel sensors, all have their counterparts in life. All these things serve a purpose. Each part is an individual and each is a vital part. Each act performed has a high reason.
fuel tank
When the thing is finally assembled and all of the fine craftsmanship covered over with a sleek and glossy finish, what will you see? Something beautiful indeed but only it’s outside beauty. You will not be able to view the infinite care that went into the design and the building of it.
brushing on the epoxy
A Few Things I Have Noted.
There are no ugly parts, no bad parts, no superfluous parts, and no evil parts.
Each part serves the whole and the whole functions properly as a result of its parts functioning properly.
In some areas fuel must flow freely without restrictions.
In other areas the fuel must be blocked.
In some areas there must be vacant space and in others all space must be filled.
The plans have been designed and the designer made the plans and by communicating these plans to the builder,
The builder can recreate what the designer intended.
The order in which the parts go together is important. Steps must occur in the proper sequence determined by the designer. The builder builds better if he is in constant communication with the designer as well as other builders.
No two builders builds in the same way, each interpretation of the plans results in a unique version of the designers vision.
There are a variety of methods available to achieve a given end.
Not all entail doing things the hard way while sometimes the most difficult method is also the best method. Some tasks are more demanding of study and consideration than others. Some things allow for only small deviations from the plans while others give the builder greater choices and allow for a greater range of tolerance.
Although not a physical component of the aircraft, time and experience are also present and will reflect in a big way the quality of construction and performance of the completed airplane.
In designing the fuel system the designer has taken into consideration the nature of fuel.
All things are either fuel friendly or fuel repellant. The fuel must not dissolve the form that contains it or any part it comes into contact with. Air must be allowed to take the place of fuel or the fuel cannot leave the tank. Hot fuel and cold fuel behave differently and this is also taken into consideration in the design, with methods to cool the fuel included in the fuel system design The fuel system is an open ended system at both ends. The fuel, a liquid will flow to the lowest point in the tank, therefore the exit point of the fuel must be the lowest point while the incoming air must placed at the highest point.
unbent fuel vent line 
bent fuel line
Sensors for determining the amount of fuel in the tank must be placed
precisely if the information they reveal is to be accurate. The information
about fuel quantity is important enough that the designer requires more than one
method of determining the quantity of fuel in the tanks. In the design of the
Cozy there are three ways to make that determination, two using the pilots sight
and one electronic method. Observation
methods are part of the designers vision.
