Static tube routing

[AKKen07]

I am trying to route my static line from behind the bulkhead forward to the instrument panel. My plan doesn’t seem very elegant to me so I’d like to know other’s thoughts..
- the lines climb from the ports on each side of the fuse aft of the baggage bulkhead to a T. Then after the lines meet from both ports and descend to the lower stringers.
- I am planning on drilling small holes in the stringers and zip-tying the plastic tubing along the stringer until that ends. Adel clamps would be more complex and heavier but would work fine. Or I could just drill a bigger hole in the stringer (1/4”) and use the grip lock ties if it would be nicer to the tubing than regular zip ties.
- then weaving along through the small under floor bulkhead with a rubber grommet and under the floorboards using adel clamps to tubing until past the rudder pedals where I can safely bring the line up outside the tubing in the boot cowl to the instrument bay. Instead of a bunch of clamps here I could just tie the light plastic tube to a fuel line? I know it’s forbidden for electrical lines but maybe this is ok?
Maybe there is something besides a zip tie that would save me from using a dozen adel clamps....?
Thanks for any input!

[davzLSA]

I plan to make little clamps out of aluminum, wrap the tube with electrical tape at the clamp locations and pop rivet them to the stringers,

[AKKen07]

That’s a neat idea

[gregc]

I used small nylon P clamps attached to the stringers with small sheet metal screws.

[AKKen07]

That looks great! How did you route the tube fwd of the stringers?

[gregc]

I am using a Garmin G3X and in the end I decided to mount the ADAHRS box behind the baggage area so it is wires going forward not pitot tube.

[AKKen07]

ahh, good idear

[davzLSA]

that looks good and neat

[JimParker256]

Plan the installation so you can replace those lines when/if necessary. A buddy of mine just had to replace the pitot and static lines on his EAB, and it was a total nightmare because the lines were clamped about a million places, and none of the clamps was easily accessible. He had to find a really skinny highschool kid to crawl back into the fuselage to un-do them...

These plastic air lines are very lightweight, and have little stress on them. They don't need to be supported like fuel lines. Heck, my old Rockwell Commander had no specific clamps or supports for the pitot and static lines – they just ran them through lightening holes in the bulkheads on the side of the fuselage. The only place they were "supported" was at the very start and end of those runs, where they used a bulkhead fitting to prevent stress on the ends of the lines where they joined the static ports, and again just before the lines curved around to the back of the instruments themselves. That last "fitting" was likely more about "ease of repair / replacement" than actually protecting the lines themselves.

For what it's worth, in my RANS S-6, those pitot and static lines are zip-tied (fairly loosely - just tight enough to keep them from flopping around) to lightening holes as they run through the wings, and "taped" to fuselage frame tubes using that self-bonding tape. They used the same color tape (gray) as the tubing is painted, so it blends nicely.

[AKKen07]

Wow thanks Jim, that is very interesting! Makes me think I’m worrying more than I need to.

[Battson]

Make sure they cannot drum against the fabric, or you may get cracks in the paint.

Suggest the tee joint needs to be the screw together kind, because you should be disassembling it every couple of years to test the system still works.

[AKKen07]

Good call - I just ordered both nylon "P" clamps and a screw-together Tee and associated parts for the rest of the system. Appreciate the input y'all!

[PaulSA]

I did exactly as you suggested and simply drilled small holes in the lower stringers and zip-tied the tube to the top. Easy to access and replace if necessary