RickK's 170 rebuild

[gran398]

Not a bad idea Lew - I do have the 3 or 4" of the liner to add to that, so it might not need much more (I don't have that much room - maybe a couple extra inches).  Beauty is I don't have much stuff to run through it. Add that to my left side brain stuff.

Agree. Those two narrow boxes will be a plus come rigging time.

[RickK]

A little progress.  Cut the supports for the tank.




Then I marked the outline of the stringers, we pulled everything out and I ground around the outlines, where the tank supports will be and also where the bulkheads will attach to the stringers. We then put everything back in and remarked everything.

Tomorrow is a big day, the day I tab the stringers in and hopefully I can get the tank supports glassed in too.  Then it's on to the internal bulkheads (fore and aft of the tank), which will  straddle the long pipe in the pics.
A day at a time...

[dirtwheelsfl]

[ashley]

:cyclops: so clean.

[gran398]

That's pretty smart right there. Great strength in the arch..the Roman's built everything with arches, and they're still standing today.

An open arch...allowing water to flow freely below. Guys...this inverted half-pipe idea is easily applied to the big aluminum tanks. Just smaller diameter heavy schedule PVC. The curvature where the PVC engages the tank...prevents trapped moisture. The Pascoe method improved.

Sweet job.

[Georgie]

DEAD SEXY!!!  

Gorgeous work and engineering.  Color me impressed. :colors:

[RickK]

Thanks guys.
I spent 4 hours today cutting the 1708, without mat, cloth.  Cut a 4" and then a 8" strip for the tabbing. Dry cutting it took a couple hours alone and it was all bent-over work  :(
Anyway, all the time my left side brain was calculating and it seems that I don't have enough resin to do the putty and then all the glass.  So it is all ready to go, just need to order some more resin to make sure I don't get caught short. Next weekend. It'll give my back a little break  

[RickK]

A little more progress.
Spent about 10 minutes spot grinding Saturday where I had tacked the stringers in.  Then spent a couple hours cutting another layer of 1708 w/mat for the 3rd layer of glass and dry cutting it in.  Prep certainly takes more time than actually laying the glass.  Then I started working out the bulkheads, marking them, grinding and adding another couple layers of 1708 to beef them up.
Today I mixed up some thickened epoxy with cabosil and chopped fibers this time and then spread fillets along the starboard stinger.  Then Ed arrived and we started to mix resin for the layup.  4" and 8" of 1708 w/o mat and then 12" 1708 with mat.  This thing is going to be a tank, that's like 8 layers of 1708






We only did one stringer so I wasn't stepping into the stuff (which I did anyway), sliding and busting my butt again (which I didn't do   ). Next weekend I'll glass the other stringer in and also the tank supports.

[fishinonthebrain]

Nice work.

It helps to know somebody else is out there bent over all day and with fiberglass itching everywhere.  

[dirtwheelsfl]

Brickhouse  :bom:

[RickK]

Got the other stringer in yesterday


Made another form for the bulkheads, a flat side for the tank side and angled away - seems the bulkheads I made earlier deformed themselves somehow. Maybe sitting outside for a few months   Very weird.  Anyway, this will be installed next weekend so there hopefully won't be another chance of deformation.  3 layers of 1808, 4 in the bottom.


Ground the inside out today. Boy the grinding is getting tough in this heat - sweat out a Tyvek suit, had to trash it.


The tank still fits, just barely though  


Ran out of resin again so couldn't make anymore progress.  Wanted to stick at least the center tube support in....

[RickK]

I bedded the middle support in putty


And then glassed it in


Then started the painstaking task of measuring and marking and re-measuring and re-marking and finally cutting the bulkheads and dry fitting them - I designed them to be about 1 1/2" fore and aft of the notch out so I have some place to glass to on the inside.










Then I got them about where they'll end up and then dropped the tank in




I'll glass in 2 strips of jasper board built up to fill the gap between the tank and the bulkheads. The other 2 supports will be glassed in on each side of the main support once I get the bulkheads glassed in.





From a distance they already look part of the stringer system - fit pretty good.


Hopefully today I'll get everything glassed in - have a lot of other things going on today.

[dburr]

Are you planning any other support for the tank bottom Rick and if so wouldn't it be easier to install that before you put the bulkheads in?

Outstanding fits BTW... The whole idea with glasss and fillets is measure with a micrometer, mark it with a crayon then cut it with an ax!     Really nice job!

[Blue Agave]

Nice work Rick!  

Keep in mind, your gas tank will have a chemical reaction when you fill it with gas and grow a bit. Space around the tank is needed.

[RickK]

Are you planning any other support for the tank bottom Rick and if so wouldn't it be easier to install that before you put the bulkheads in?

Outstanding fits BTW... The whole idea with glasss and fillets is measure with a micrometer, mark it with a crayon then cut it with an ax!     Really nice job!

Thanks.
There are 2 more supports going in - go back to top of a page and you'll see them.  I need to have some flat areas to glass the bulkheads in on the tank side, then I'll stick and glass the other supports in.  They are a little shorter and are not a path for water.  It would be easier to do it before but.... I needed the long support glassed in before I could glass in the bulkheads which needed to be done before I can get the other supports in - kind a chicken and egg thing.
Looks like it'll be next weekend on glassing them in.