Owning more expensive than renting

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 13:38:17 GMT, Jon Kraus wrote:

Has anyone found owning more expensive than renting? :-)

After my major overhaul after an inflight cylinder failure on my 1976
Sundowner. I thought I was through the "worst" case scenario, but a new
problem is about to bite me in my rear end that has my A&P scratching his
head.....

Last flight, I noticed under the wing root, some blue dye on my nice shiny
white paint. Thought, ok, maybe when I was topped off, that some fuel
dripped down and left it's traces. Wiped it off, nothing leaking, so I
thought.... Flew the plane, landed, no obvious signs of leaking.

Today, go out, same thing, just enough leakage, that it doesn't make it to
the bottom of the fusalage, nothing on the ground, yet I have a fuel leak
from the root of the wing.

My A&P took a look, sure enough, said I have never seen anything like this.
The Sundowner doesn't have any access panels to the fuel tanks! Everything
is riveted tight as a drum. So.... now do I have a leaky fuel tank, or do
I have a fuel line problem.

A&P said run it today, with the warmer weather and see if I get seepage.
Came back, sure enough, very fine strip of blue from fuel seeping out.

I wiped it off after the flight, to see if I get any seepage. I am
figuring if no seepage, then there is a good chance it's a fuel line
leaking under pressure. I asked for the tank to be topped off as well.

Either way, it's going to be very expensive to repair.... If it's the
tank, the entire wing will probably have to be removed from what I gather,
as it does not appear to be "bladders" according to my A&P.

Total time on airframe is 2253, so be very careful in buying "underused"
airplanes. Sitting on the ramp is worse then being used on a regular basis
as I am learning the hard way.

Allen