water ballast leak

Bob,

I had an LS4 with a leak. Actually, several leaks:

1. If it still has the factory original shower curtain (tan) bags
(highly unlikely by now, but I guess still possible), then really make
sure they're not leaking. One of mine had a pinhole leak that only
showed up when I put about a 4 foot head of pressure on it. It was
very small, but over a couple of hours...

2. I also had a leak where the hose clamp attached the bag to the
valve. This was a simple matter for reattaching the bag with a wider
clamp and adding a layer of RTV sealant.

Items 1 and 2 contributed to water in the wing.

3. Finally, I had a leak through the dump orifice due to the valve not
seating properly. This was a nightmare job, requiring disassembly of
the valve through the root rib on the wing. It's a sliding ball valve
with a wide o-ring. IIRC, the o-ring on mine had somehow been pinched
and wasn't seating. I took it apart, greased everything up, and it
worked fine. It still helps to slap your palm over the dump orifice
after filling the bags to help seat the ball valve firmly.

Though item 3 wasn't an issue inside of the wing, it was a problem on
cool days where a brief climb above the freezing layer would result in
a little ice patch around the valve.

Hope one of these is the cure.

Erik Mann
P3

Robert Harvey wrote:
I have an LS4A glider that has developed a leak in
the left wing. The bags do not leak and I have had
the bags out of the wing and checked for the cause
but cannot come up with the answer. If anyone has
had a similar problem I would like to hear from you.


thanks Bob Harvey