Starboard Tank Progress

Made good progress on the starboard fuel tank Friday.

 Started out by cutting the lower laminate and plywood core out where the tank fittings will go.

This is a pic of the plywood side of the laminate that I removed for one of the spots. The first "ply" of the plywood was bonded to the glass work better than to the inner ply, meaning that I achieved a very good bond between the plywood and the glass skin. That is what you want.

Here is one of the completed spots. You can see the multiple layers of the plywood through the 3 layers of biax tape and mat I added the seal the core. This achieves two things(1) makes the wall thickness less so the bulkhead fittings will fit and (2) seals the core so even if the fitting leaks at the mounting hole the diesel can not get into the core.





That done is it was time to put the top back in place on top of the end walls of the tank down in the engine room. Not so easy by yourself, I had Chad and his friend help me take it out. But he was not home and I did not want to wait all day...so I muscled it in by my self...back is still not the same.

But here it is along with the center dividing wall
all glassed in. Next I will have to glass the top on where it meets the hull, dividing wall and both ends. This will have to be done both inside and outside the tank . Then I need to glass in the baffle in each compartment and lastly glass the side on. Next will come 2 coats of Vinyl-ester resin to coat all the polyester resin work. The vinyl-ester resin is impervious to more chemicals than the poly is. My main concern is when we start using biodiesel.
I have pictures of each of the joints and the taping for future reference.