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Jim,

regarding the long range tank and probe, I'd reconsider the idea of making
the wing wet all the way to BL171 for a couple of reasons.  The little bit
of extra fuel might be of questionable value as a tradeoff for becoming an
aircraft system designer.  The length of the probe is designed for the
distance to BL 165 not BL 171.  The BL 171 rib becomes a rather
non-significant structural element once you've installed the long range
option with the rib at BL 165.  Therefore, you can cut holes in it at your
convenience which makes installation of the probe and the pitot tube etc.
fairly easy.  I cut a hole roughly 1.25" in BL171 for access to the probe.
I found that it was rather easy to remove the phillips head screws for the
pickup wires and then to insert a socket drive which is used to remove the
probe.  I tried all this out as well as reinstalling in reverse order before
I closed the wing to be sure it could be done.  I found recently that when I
was wiring the pitot tube and running the plastic air line to it, I needed
to remove a much larger sized hole for  that.  I'm told by Bill Maddox that
the BL171 rib isn't structural and can be dispensed with.  He redesigned the
winglets and removed that rib I think.  You might ask him or the Lancair
techies for more advice on that.

Also when I added the AOA air tubes in the right wing, I found I needed to
make a huge hole in the BL 171 rib in order to be able to get enough access
to bond in the parts and seal around them.  I didn't have the luxury of
installing that item while I was building the wing.

John Barrett