Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Beginning of New Fiberglass Fuel tanks

Well after 2 days of removing problem thru-hulls that were either plastic or had bad rotten backing blocks and grinding all the junk glass work off ,I finally got started on the new fuel tanks. I also discovered that the generator exhaust, which is 2" diameter hose was hooked up to a 1-1/2" thru-Hull.
How much more could a 2" thru-hull have cost? I bought a new stainless steel one for $50.00 or so!!!


After cleaning all the dust out I laid out the lines for the sides of the new tanks. I then cut 1" thick Polyurethane sheet to get fillet strips  which accomplish two goals(1) they keep the wall of the tank from creating a hard spot in the hull and (2) they keep the fiberglass tabbing from having a sharp 90 degree  bend which is weaker.
I glued the strips for the 3 transverse walls of the tank in with hot glue. It only needs to hold the strip in long enough to shape the wall and glass it in. Then they are buried in glass and not going anywhere.


One more shot of the strips. Hopefully Thursday I will make the 3 walls and glass both sides in prep for installation. My plan is to build the ends and dividing wall first, then the top followed by the inside wall. I will have access ports in the inside wall. After glassing them all in I will build and glass in the baffles in each tank. The baffle does not have to seal against the hull as do the other walls and top.

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