Moving Right Along

Working on finishing the port fuel tank, one step forward and two sideways...then another step forward..

I started assembling the tank fittings for the engine fuel supply and the fuel polishing system. Here is a view of the inside where the lines come in. The two that appear to go to the left are the suction lines for the engine fuel supply and the fuel polishing. The fuel polishing line goes all the way to the lowest point of the tank. I am hoping it will catch any water that gets into the fuel......The engine suction line ends a little higher up than the suction for the polishing system. The line that moves off to the right is the combined return line. I only need one return per tank. It will be very rare that the fuel polishing system will be running on the tank that is being used by the engine.

My plan was to get the valves on the tank suction, return and vent fitting and install the fill line to the deck plate so I could seal the tank up and pressure test it. That's where we went sideways. The fuel fill will be in the froward outboard corner of the compartment that will hold the heat exchanger water heater. This heater has a coil of copper pipe running inside it that carries cooling water from the main engine, so when the engine is running it heat the water. You can see the though hull fitting which will go in the tank top right where it is standing. It is upside down in this picture. Will I figured I had better glass the bulkhead in first. So off I go to cut and install the bulkhead....

Here it is, all cut to fit, face veneer ground off where it will be glassed on and two coats of resin both side and all edges. Of course this was about 3 hours later.
OK so now I am ready to glass it in......

Except...those 3 little wires sticking out of the top right where I need tp glass....
Off we go to get the soldering iron and wire etc. to extend the existing wires so they will reach beyond the glass work.

Finally. Here is the bulkhead as viewed from the aft side. It is glassed on to the tank top, hull side and underside of the side deck. This will add quite a bit of strength to the hull. Unfortunately I some how forgot to take a picture of the area where the sensor leads are. Tomorrow.

So remember the fuel fill fitting that started this whole detour off?

Here is a shot of the location where it will go, right

where the two black lines cross. So it only took a day of work to get to it.

Top all glassed on

Here it is in all its glory. All cut to size, corners rounded and glassed with 5 layers of 1708 Biax tape.
The two darker areas with the holes are where the piping goes through the top. There are four holes; Supply line and return line for the engines, Supply line for the fuel polishing system and the vent.

Close-up of the glass work at the front outboard corner. I spent a total of 5 hours glassing that day. All the outside corners where glassed one after the other so that there is a strong chemical bond at the various joints.

Here is a shot of the inside of the joint between the flange and the top.
It came out very clean here, but there are some areas where there is a lttle hanging glass work I need to grind off. Oh Boy more grinding...and this time I will be lying on my back with my head and shoulders stuck into one of the compartments of the tank. Sure glad I made those large.

Top on the Tank

So there it is, all glued on to the flange using 2 layers of 1.5Oz. mat. I ended up having to cut it in half at the dividing bulkhead. It was just too big and awkward to get it in place due to the floor beams which could not be removed.

 

I almost forgot to put the level sensor tapes in before I put the top on. These are 2" wide copper foil tapes used to sense the fuel level. The engineer at the manufacture of the sensors recommended that I put 3 tapes in with a 2" space between two and a 1-1/2" space between two. Some times the sensors work better with less gap and sometimes better with a wider gap. Since I will not be able to check which gap works best until after the whole project is done, I put both in.
I glassed over these with a layer of 1.5 Oz. mat and a layer of 8 Oz. cloth. Forgot to take the pictures today, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.





Hopefully I will be able to complete the all the glassing of the outside edges of the top tomorrow. I also have to install the contacts for the level sensors and finish glassing them in. It just never ends.

Sneaking up on completion

of the port side fuel tank. Had to go to mom's this afternoon, but I was able to glass the two top

flanges on the baffles. They are exactly at the same height as the flanges around the sides of the tank. Tomorrow I will trim the edges up and fill the depression in the middle. Then that part will be ready to glass the top on.
The next steps are to cut the top to fit and make the two areas where the bulkhead fittings for the fuel lines will be installed.
Then I can glass the top on and it will be done!!!
Except for the plumbing part....

I took the opportunity to glass up the 4 little holes at the back corners of the top flange.If you look closely in the very corner you can see the different pattern in the cloth.

Baffles Glassed in

It has been rough working conditions here lately. It is either too hot and humid (106 heat index) or raining cats and dogs. Without the tent over it I would be spending all my time bailing the boat out.

 

Here is the forward baffle glassed in on 3 sides. The tan color you see is polyurethane foam which I used to make the fillets for the glass work. Tomorrow I will grind the edges smooth on each piece. The next step will be to build the flange at the top where it meets the tank top. right above the lettering in the picture.The blue and white you see on the baffle is leftover gel coat, I made the baffles out of glass I salvaged from another boat I cut up. No sense in throwing good solid fiberglass panels away.

Here is a closeup of one of the joints. I am having some trouble with the new resin draining out of the vertical glass work before it sets up. You can see a few light spots near the top of the glass.

This joint was done with the Vinyl-ester resin and I had no problems with it draining out. The old resin I was buying in the 5 gal. bucket did not give me any trouble either. So I think I am going to pick another 5 gallons up to finish this work. It is more expensive but a lot easier to work with. I still have lots of glass work to do that is horizontal, where I can use the new resin.