Does anyone have or installed these plastic tanks in their aircraft. I am thinking about doing the 62 gallon main tank and the 18 gallon aux. tank in a 180 wing on my project and just wondering if people have had good or bad experience?

I installed a couple sets many years ago of an earlier incarnation of the kit, I was pleased with the results. That version had little Facet pumps in the aux tanks, I believe the newer version of the kit does away with those pumps.

It would be easy for an inexperienced person to do some shoddy workmanship as the project requires some fairly major surgery on some fairly delicate structure. If the wings are off the airplane that would make it much easier.

I would recommend it, those tanks should never leak in your lifetime.


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I know a guy in Oklahoma that installed long range Monarchs in a 1974 180. He likes them. I also have a friend in VA that has them in an early 182 and he is happy too.

I flew a 206 with their tanks for ~ 1000 hours, with no complaints at all. Good product.

MTV

Been in my 180 for 24 years not one leak ever.

I checked with Hartwig today and they still make the tanks kit with the primary and aux. tanks. He said if you fill the primary tank first you can get 100 gallons on board and it is a gravity only system so no pumps and stuff required and if I get the front and back outlet it will use every drop of that fuel.
The cost of the kit is $8800USD so about $12,000 CDN plus install. Whew!

That's less money than I would have guessed. I'll keep it in mind if my bladders give out. I think I'd only go with the standard tanks, no aux. The airplane is already heavy with the amphibs attached.

175 magnum wrote:Does anyone have or installed these plastic tanks in their aircraft. I am thinking about doing the 62 gallon main tank and the 18 gallon aux. tank in a 180 wing on my project and just wondering if people have had good or bad experience?

I can not say enough great things about the Monarch Aux tanks. Check out my photo section and you will see pics of when we installed the them. You will not be disappointed what so ever if you do move forward.

We flew that plane from Cadiz, OH to Carthage, TX non stop on our way to the Texas STOL Round Up a few weeks ago. 6 hours and change we were in the air. It felt really good to get out of the plane and walk around.

I installed the mains and aux tanks back in 2000. Took all winter. At the time it was cheaper than finding a set of 84gal wings. I think the kit was about $6k back then. Been almost maintenance free since. The caps sometimes leak. The rubber gaskets never seem to last very long. Being able to tanker fuel is really great though. Consider the Flints if you want something easier. There are some pix on my photo page.

Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like they are a good product. Your pictures helped a lot to get a better understanding of what needs to be done.

I am late seeing this thread but have them in my 185 for a total of 100Gal.
Mine have the transfer pumps with the associated control panel. I understand the pumps are still available and are reasonable.

I am restoring a 56-57 180A and have the control head for my aux tanks. Cannot get the head to work. Does anybody have a wiring diagram for the Monarch control head? PN MAD 001-01.

Thanks!