SonexBuilders.net

I had a bad spill on my Sonex, and was able to avoid the problem with a very generous soaking with water. Thank goodness there was a hose close by. No cracks or discoloration. This was my second windshield, thanks to a previous fuel spill that I didn't wash down immediately.

I don't have your problem - wing tanks.

I have thought about this and I think that moving the fill point forward, into the top the engine bay, would prevent a lot of windscreen damage.

The forward location, could be complimented by having a large access flap, which opens back & to the vertical position preventing splash/spills from contaminating the polycarbonate windscreen.

The alternative would be to leave the fill point where it is and have a shorter (diffrent profile) windscreen - more of an elongated half dome/bubble shape - might need to be acrylic (Perspex) rather than polycarbonate. Acrylic is generally cheaper & more resistant to fuel damage (but not totally).

mccool wrote:I had a bad spill on my Sonex, and was able to avoid the problem with a very generous soaking with water. Thank goodness there was a hose close by. No cracks or discoloration. This was my second windshield, thanks to a previous fuel spill that I didn't wash down immediately.

The line kid screwed up last weekend and dumped about 3/4 of a gallon. A quart for my shirt, a quart for hers, and a quart for the windshield. Didn't have a hose but I raced back to the hangar where I have a 5 gallon water container and lots of old towels. So far so good. It was horrifying.

I think the key thing is twofold:
1) get the fuel filler at the correct angle to match the fuel fill area. I'm speaking A model here.
1.5) Get the nozzle in far enough that if it blasts it will just go in the tank and not skyward.
2) Go slow!