It seems that the two hardest parts of a project are the starting and completing. I only had two items left on the starboard tank 1. fix the unevenness around the inspection ports and 2 install the deck fills. It has been 2 days!!! and I still am not done.
The idea was that I would mix up some resin with filler apply a layer around the edge of the opening where the inspection panel seal to the wall then clamp this panel on to make the surface very smooth and even. The panel is faced with high gloss Formica which the cured resin will not stick to.
Well it worked better in theory than practice, the issue is getting enough filled resin on to fill all the voids, which were larger than I had expected. I also discovered that you have to add a lot more catalyst to resin which will have filler added to it. It is best to add the catalyst before the filler to make sure you get it well mixed.
Onward! To the deck fills. It took some time to determine where to place the deck fills so they would interfere the least with the storage under the side decks and on top of the tanks. Here is the under side of one of the deck fills. The little chain attaches the screw out cover to the fitting so it will not walk away while you are filling the tank as they are want to due....
Here are the fittings I bought for the tank end of the fill hose. They are though hull fittings which may be a little overkill for this application, but I did not want any fuel leaks...
I used some of my glass filled resin to bed the fitting inside the tank. Once that has set I will loosen the nut and fill the hole around the fitting with resin just in case it try's to leak. That way the plywood core is sealed.
Here is the after tank fill. Tomorrow I hope to get the access port covers in and fill the tanks with water to test them. I would like to get on to the port side tank.
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