Now we'er talkin

Making good progress on these bloody tank tops. I am actually working on the last one now. Need to buy more resin and glass to tab them in to the boat.

Work in progress. At this point I have cut the access ports, beveled the plywood on the underside and glassed the underside with 2 layers of biax cloth and layer of 1.5oz. mat.I beveled the plywood around the access ports so that there was no chance of water infiltrating the plywood core. There will be 12 holes drilled around the perimeter of each access port.

Another view of the underside after it is all cleaned up and ground ready to glue the stud plates in.

Here is the top side with the extra layers od mat added and ground ready to install the stud plates.
So Thursday I will finish this one and hopefully get it painted on the underside ready to install on Friday.

I think I will get the first coat on the other tops tomorrow afternoon so I can finish them Thursday ready to go in on Friday.

Progress on Tank Covers

Got back to work on the tank covers this week. It turns out that the access covers and ports are a lot more complicated than I thought. The next step is to make and install the stud plates to hold the studs which will hold the covers on.



I made the plates using 1/4" Aluminum plate. I drilled and tapped hole for the 1/4-20 Stainless Steel bolts. It turns out there are 144 bolts in all.
I threaded the bolts in with an impact driver and Lock Tight so they will not work loose when I am removing the covers.

Here you see two of the openings with the Stud Plates in place. I drilled the holes all the way though the top and the cover plate so hopefully the studs would line up with the holes in the covers. Easier said than done. I ended up having to clamp the covers in place then drill one set of holes, fit the studs in and bolt the cover on. Then I could remove the clamps and drill the holes for the other two plates. Then I could glue those two in place and bolt them up. The last step was the remove the first two plates and then glue them back in.

Here is one of the tops with all the studs in place.











The last step is to glass the stud plates in place so that the aluminum bars and studs are encased in glass on the underside of the top which will be inside of the tank. I used a single layer of 24oz, Biax tape which I cut so it could wrap from the underside up though the port and finish on the top side. I actually started by wetting the tape out on the tops side, then installed the cover again with a layer of wax paper in between, Then I flipped the top over and finished the glass work on the underside.

This is what the finished port looks like on the underside of the top. Everything is sealed in. The last step is to paint the underside with the Epoxy tank coating paint.

The finished port cover looks like this. It too will be painted with the white epoxy paint.
Onward, I only have 11 more .....

Progress on the Tank Access Ports

Spent the day glassing and grinding. I wanted to elevate the area of the top where the access covers seal to the top so that small amounts of liquids on the top would not flow into the tank when the cover is off . So I added two layers of 1.5ox mat around the port opening.



Here you can see one where I have add the 2 layers of mat around the opening. It elevates the opening by about 1/8" which is enough to keep liquids from flowing in......if the top is nearly level. I will be occupied with other issues at times when it is not level....like the boat sinking.
















The other goal was to have the surface around the opening be as planar as possible to aid in sealing the covers. So I wetted to glass out then worked all the air out and laid a piece of wax paper over the wet glass. After working all the air out where the paper met the wet glass work, I layed a piece of 3/4 ply with Formica on the underside over the glass work and put 15lbs. of weight on it. It worked pretty well.

I used the pieces I cut out of the underside of the tops where the holes are located to make the covers. Unfortunately the glass work was not as thick as I wanted so I added 2 layers of 1.5 oz mat and a layer of 24 oz Biax to each one. The resulting thickness is close to 3/8" which should be plenty considering it will be held down with 10  1/4-20 bolts. The holes are only 8" X 10" in size. I marked the locations on the glass before I add the new layers. so they are permanent now.







Here is the stack of the 8 covers for the Port and starboard tanks. The P2 you see is glassed in, and means 2 hole aft on the port side tank.

I have the  2 holes in the upper center tank top left to cut and finish and to make the 4 covers for the center line tanks. This is going faster than the finishing of the insides of the tanks.

Tomorrow is tank trail fill day. I plan to fill all of them for a couple of days to make sure there are no leaks before I put the tops on....Also get to measure how much they hold.

On to the tops

OK so now I have to cut all the access holes in the tank tops, so we can get in to them to clean when needed. The tops had been cut and fitted to the tanks earlier so I thought I was almost done. Wrong again, it is turning out to be more work than I had hoped for. Some things never change...

Here is one of the access holes as seen from the inside of the tank. The tops are cored with plywood, cutting a hole straight through the top would have exposed the core which is really not a great idea. So I have cut the hole larger on the underside and beveled the core down to the upper fiberglass skin. I plan to cut 1/4 thick aluminum bars and thread 1/4-20 stainless steel bolts into them. Then drill clearance holes in the upper skin for the bolts and glass the bars in from the underside. This would seal the bars, core and bolts on the inside of the tank. The access covers will just have clearance holes for the bolts and be held in place by nuts with fender washers. The aluminum bars are there to keep the 1/4-20 bolts from coming loose in the top. I figure that if I thread the bolts into the aluminum with locktite they will not work loose. Encasing in fiberglass is just an added precaution to avoid leaks.

Here is the view of the entire port side cover with the 4 holes cut. Had a little problem in that the builder only put a single layer of mat and roving on the underside of the core, not even close to the required amount. So I cut through the top skin in a couple of places which will have to be fixed. Oh boy more work....

Here is top side of the top at the same hole location as the first picture. I have added one layer of 24 oz combo mat over the remaining core as well as 2 layers of 24 oz. Biax tape around all 4 sides of the hole. Next step will be to trim the new glass work and install the aluminum bars and bolts. Then it will be ready to seal up with a layer of 24 oz. Biax tape wrapped from the underside up over the bars, though the hole and onto the tops side.  That should be easy... I am really looking forward to that mess.

Got smarter on the Starboard side top. I marked where the holes are on the top side and added the glass reinforcement before cutting the holes. Also added glass reinforcing to the rest of the areas where there was not enough thickness over the core. Port side top is now ready to cut the holes and bevel the core in preparation for the anchor bars.

One last shot showing the lower center tank top in place. I still have to finish it before it can be installed. But I wanted to see it in place. Looks like the access will be fine. Only catch is that the shower pan sits over the forward end of this tank. So I had the move the access port aft of the deepest part of the tank. I am planning to mount the suction tube and tank gauge in the cover. So I guess I shall have to plumb them with a 45 degree elbow so they will reach the bottom of the tank. But not today, gotta leave some work for tomorrow, and next week and next.....

Tank insides painted....Finally

Sorry for not posting on the sanding and filling and sanding and... well you get the picture. Well actually you didn't get any pictures because the tanks "looked" the same at the end of each day of sanding and filling and sanding so I did not bother to take any pictures. It was kind discouraging actually. But it's all done now.

                                                                               



Here is an overall shot of the 4 tanks all nice and brilliant white inside. The blue at the edges is blue painters tape to keep the epoxy paint off the fiberglass where I want to attach the tops with polyester resin and fiberglass. The epoxy adheres really well to the cured polyester resin, but the polyester resin will not adhere to the cured epoxy.
They look a lot bigger in white.  I calculate the forward center-line tank to hold about 115 gallons, it is almost 36"  deep at the forward end. Each side tank is about 135 gallons, and the upper center-line tank should hold about 100 gallons. Total tankage is 485 gallons, enough for a few days....depends who's showering.

Port side tank looking forward. You can see all the baffles with the newly cut holes to relieve the pressure on the baffles from the water sloshing forward and aft. The idea of the baffles is to slow the water down so it does not build up momentum like a wave does. This is only a problem when the tanks are not completely full.

Forward center tank looking aft. The finish really came out very smooth with no little recesses or crevices to trap dirt.
I found this Sherwin-Williams Macro-Poxy 646PW which is specially formulated for potable water tank linings. It is a 1 to 1 ratio 2-part mixture which uses Zylene as a thinner. Definitely a full respirator  and fans operation. Went on really well with a 6" x 1/4" nap slim roller and a brush for the corners. I put 2 coats on just to be sure. A small hand mirror worked well to see all the undersides of the baffle tops as well as down into the "pit" at the forward end of the lower center tank.

Upper center tank. This is the one that rises up through the cabin sole to just under the center-line bunk. There will be banks of drawers under the bunk on 3 sides. The rudder post and steering ram reside under the head of the bunk which is at the aft end of the cabin. You can see the "weep" holes at the bottom center and at each lower corner of the baffle. There is only 1 lift tube  per tank located at the lowest point in the tank. The weep holes allow all the water to drain from the other compartments of the tank to the lift tube.

OK last shot of the tanks. This is the starboard tank looking forward. This really is a big mile stone for me. I was beginning to think I would never get out of sander hell. But all the work seems to have paid off in a really smooth finish. Hopefully one that will last a long time. It will not be easy to remove the tops to redo this paint work.
My plan is to fill the tanks with water before putting the tops on permanently just to make sure there are no leaks.....

Now on to the access openings in the tops.

Fairing tank Interiors

Decided to fair ( smooth out) the interior tank surfaces. I believe it will make it much easier to keep the tanks clean . I could envision any dirt that got into the tank settling in to all those little depressions left by the cloth pattern.  At least the is what I keep telling myself while I am grinding pasting and sanding for....

Notice the lovely grey color. It makes a wonder fine dust when you grind it. Luckily it does not itch, so long as you do not grind or sand through to the fiberglass underneath. 

Close up of the forward end of the Starboard tank.
I am really only trying to fill in the cloth texture and small dips.

Not much else to say except grind on....

Hope to get the 2 side tanks done on Thursday. Tomorrow I go to mom's.

Continueing with the tank tops

Work proceeding on the center line tank tops. Only got a half day in today. I had to go buy more materials...

The first picture shows the 3 lower tops in place. Getting there.

I added an layer of biax material over the ledge at the front end of the port and starboard tanks. I also started the fairing work on the inside tank walls. All that grinding dust makes a very good filler for fairing. I just sift it through a 14 x14 window screen to remove all the big stuff. I want the insides of the tanks to be very smooth which will make it much easiner to keep them clean.

Here a shot of the upper and lower tank tops. The upper top is new plywood with the bottom side glassed.  The lower one is the lower center top with the glass work done on the top side.
Next step will be to cut and finish the access port holes. then I will fair both sides in prep for painting.

Another shot of the upper center tank top. Ready to trim the glass where it overhangs the ply.





Onward!!