Access Port Covers Starboard Tank

Finished making the cover plates for the access ports in the side wall of the Starboard tank. There are 32 bolts holding each cover plate on. These access ports will enable us to be able to inspect and clean the insides of the fuel tank. I would not be building new tanks if the builder had put access ports in the steel tanks...

Here is the last one in place. It is a pretty slow and tedious procedure to get to this point. After marking and drilling all the pilot holes in the plate I cut and glued the Buna-N rubber gasket material on the plate at the edges. The end of each piece was super glued to the side of the piece it met at the corner. Now line the plate up over the hole in the tank side and drill 2 holes though the side, one at each of opposite corners of the plate. These will be used to hold the plate in place while I drill all the other holes. Next the 2 holes at the corners are threaded and the bolts screwed in with lock-tite. After re-boring the 2 holes in the tank side with a clearance size drill I install the plate and hold it in place with nuts and washers. Now drill all the rest of the holes around the edges of the plate. After removing the plate all the remaining holes are threaded and the rest of the bolts installed. Next I re-bore the remaining holes in the side of the tank with the clearance size bit. The last step is to install the plate again with nuts and washers on each bolt and then cut the bolts off so that only about 1/4" of bolt is exposed from the nut. I like to do this then put acorn nuts on the exposed threads so they can not get all gummed up or mashed in the years before I need to remove the access cover.

Here are the other 3 plates for the starboard side tank.
The only thing left to do is figure out some kind of handle to put on the plates so you can hold them while putting them in place. They are put on from the inside with the nuts on the outside of the tank.

This is one of the four aluminum bars which will become the fuel manifolds for controlling the flow of fuel from the tanks to the engine, generator and fuel polishing system. It is amazing how fast it get complicated. I have designed most of the system...another post for that.