Earthstar Forums

I noticed that there seemed to be a little bit of up and down play in the tail boom of my Gull 2000. It was causing the fiberglass to crack where it meets the tail boom. Today I removed my fuel tank and found that there are cracks on both sides in the aft tail boom socket where the rear vertical support tubes meet it. There is only about a 1/2 inch left that is not broken.
I fly off a fairly rough grass strip so I guess the vibration got to it.
It looks like the only way to repair this is to cut open the fiberglass, remove the boom tube, and reweld the
socket. I am guessing that it would damage the aluminum tail boom to weld with it in place.
Anyone have any other thoughts on repairing this?

Mike S

Hi
Is the tube broken or the steel sheet that raps around the
Tail boom. You can drill out the rivets holding the socket
To the boom and put a steel sheet with some dry fiberglass as an insulator along with the steel sheet than use a mig welder and weld the crack than fashion a gussit
Of .050 4130 steel
To strengthen the joint and weld it in. Than take out the steel sheet and fiberglass that you put in as an insulator.
If you cut the aft portion of the shell you can put it back wen you are done and tape it in place on the out side and fiberglass the inside than fill the seam with bondo.
Happy Flying
Mark


Sent from my iPhone

Mark
Thanks for the info.
It is the rear steel sheet that wraps around the tail boom on the top where the 2 vertical tubes are welded. It is cracked on both sides.


Mike S

Mike S

How did your cracked tail boom repair go?


Skot


Odyssey HKS N159BS

Yes, how did the repair go. All of us Gull 2000 drivers are watching and looking at our airplanes. No issues with mine and I fly from a large paved runway.

Sorry I didn't update my story. I have been busy flying.
Here is what I did....

I cut open the fiberglass about 14" high up to the axle mounts all around and pulled it back and removed it.
Had to be careful to leave room to reattach the fiberglass and miss the fuse tubing.
Removed the tail boom completely and re welded the socket. I strengthened the socket by building it up with weld between the areas where the support tubes are attached. The top of this socket is cut down to half the size of the sides {for lightening purposes I presume}. The socket cracked on the top on both sides of the weld for the 2 vertical engine supports.
As a safety measure I added a stainless steel strap around the tube behind the socket and ran a cable up through the lower engine mounts and attached it to the stainless strap with turnbuckles. This should help
carry the load.
Sorry I never thought of taking any pictures.
So far I just riveted the fiberglass back together with a 2" wide aluminum strip as a backer and I added an
inspection panel to check on it. Maybe in the future I will fiberglass it.

Mike S