Ted's Hang Balloon Project

Well now what is Ted Gauthier up to?

A few years ago Ted's older brother Guy who owns a hot air balloon repair shop (B.R.E.T.) designed and built a "Hang Balloon". Ted has had the opportunity to fly this Experimental Balloon several times and has now made the decision to build one for himself. There will be several phases to building this one man hang balloon which will include, building a fuel tank, harness system, fuel system, and the envelope itself. Ted states that this balloon will take him a year or more to complete because he is only working on this project in his spare time and as the budget allows. Ted has been planning this project for more than two years. Ted states, "one of the most difficult things to acquire for the project were used fuel tanks". The 20 gallon lay down tanks are found in certified Aerostar Hot Air balloons and they are difficult to obtain at a reasonable price. Ted purchased two used tanks several years ago and had them sent to Longview, Texas just for this purpose. The Two tanks are cut up and welded together to make one "Experimental Fuel Tank". Ted says."it's a shame that you need to destroy one tank to make two, but that is what needs to be done".

Each used fuel tank has the valve setup and you need the extra part for the reserve tank. One tank is used entirely and provides for the 20 gal. main fuel tank. The other tank is used for the 6 gal. reserve tank. One end of a tank is cut off and modified and then welded to the main tank.

Below you will see the process we took building this experimental fuel tank.

Phase 1 - Build a Tank.

This was Guy Gauthier's original design and will give you an idea what the tank will look like. Notice that there are two fuel gauges and dip tubes, two shut off valve. This looks like one tank but in reality it's two tanks in one. The main tank will hold 20 gal. an the reserve tank will hold 6 gal. of propane.

This is our donor tank with the valves removed. You must remove the valves, flush with fresh air and let sit for a very long time and flush again before you start cutting and welding on it. If you get in to much of a rush, you may just have more excitement than you wanted.

The above photos show two tanks with one cut in half. Later it will have to be cut again for a perfect fit. You need a perfect fit for the correct size of the reserve tank and fantastic welds.

The used fuel valve removed.

Ted Gauthier is holding some of the valving. All the used valves were pulled from the tank and replaced with new. This includes the Fuel quantity gauge.

A new threaded ring was cut to size and welded to the tank to accept the valve.

A beautiful weld.

The donor tank was cut.

Ted uses a die grinder to cut the exact size of the reserve tank.

Once the reserve tank was cut to size, time was taken to check for level/square. Notice the marker on the table. This is where the tank was marked and then more grinding followed.

All of the existing attach points were cut off the tank. This included the rope handles, and the valve protection guard.

Some of the attachment brackets had to be accurately cut off not to damage the tank so Ted used a small dremel tool with a die grinder.

This is a photo of all the attachment points removed for the old tank and Ted's new tank now welded as one.

Here you can see the welding of the valve receptacles and the tank attachment points were ground to a flat finish.

New Valve safety protection bars were designed and made, ready for welding.

Valve safety guards are now welded.

Eye rings were welded in place. They are used for carabineer attach points.

Joe Paddy, Engineer and designer at Balloon Repairs of East Texas continues with the welding. It really is great to have someone as experienced as Joe Paddy to complete these important welds. Welding on stainless steel takes a lot of practice and is a real art. Joe makes it look easy.

At this point, Ted is just holding the pieces and letting the Master do his work.

When you're drilling into a fuel tank, little metal shavings drop inside. This piece of square aluminum was attached to the vacuum so we could get inside and remove the debris.

Here is the completed tank. Ready to go to powder coating. Once it returns from powder coating all the new valving and fuel line system will be attached. Prior to sending the tank out for powder coating, we pressure tested the tank up to 300 psi. You don't want to find out later that you have a problem/leak in your fuel tank.

update: 3-20-2008

The Tank came back from Powder Coating.

Yes, This is Royal Blue.....

Installed new rubber handles for hauling the tank around.