I got the idea for installing a fuel fume detector from the RV guys over on the VAF forums. It makes sense to me especially in a plastic airplane like the Long-EZ where almost the entire fuel system resides in or around the cockpit.  I definitely want to know if I have any hint of a fuel leak as soon as absolutely possible.

There doesn’t seem to be many fuel vapor sensors out there on the market, and a few of the RV flyers swore by the Xintex Fireboy Fuel Fume Detector.  Now, these are actually sensors used in the boating community to sense any problems in their engine compartments.  So I bought one off a guy who recently installed it in his boat, but then decided to swap his boat engine out with a diesel motor.  Thus, I was able to get it much cheaper than what they sell for at the normal boat supply retailers.

The pics below show the control head face, the vapor sensor and the connecting cable between the two:

You’ve probably noticed this on my instrument panel pictures.  I’m not sure if I’ll actually mount it on the actual panel or not, but I normally mock it up to see if I will have space for it if I do decide to panel mount it.