Fuel Tank Mount

I spent most of the afternoon figuring out with Ron how to mount the fuel tank. Ron suggested white oak cross members. I felt a plywood platform would work better. The solution?  Both with a plywood base on top of two white oak frames. I followed Ron's suggestion to hang the white oak frames on a frame to place hem at exactly the right height. I put them 1/4" lower than necessary to allow for fiberglass tabbing.

While Ron was cutting the f

White Oak, I made a clear out of a piece of plywood and used it to bond two bulkhead panels into a common plane.  I cut a couple of other blocks if wood to hold the outboard side in plane also.  So this is ready to tab.

Back to the tank support:

Here is the frame support the two white oak pieces at the bottom. When the frame comes out tomorrow, I'll measure the size and Ron will cut it out of  3/4" plywood and cut out the center to provide access to the hoses. 

Next I hit the areas to be tabbed with a grinder and then wiped it down with acetone.

I precut 4 pieces of mat and 8 pieces of stitched mat, along with breaking a piece up mat for a fillet filler.  I cut the pieces in a trapezoidal shape and made a slit on the narrow side to better conform to the shape of the angled White Oak and the turn of the bilge, and put a bit of mat over the slit.  Finally I used plastic to force out the air pockets and used clamps to pinch it all in position. 

Here is what it looks like when I left it.

The angled board is pushing a hose out of the way.

After this I tabbed two bulkhead panels together--the ones I lined up earlier with the cleat. Then I tried using up done excess epoxy mixed with West Systems 403 as a fillet, which did not work all that well.  The gap was too big and it is probably unnecessary if the tabbing is curved at the junction and sufficiently thick.  If followed this up with a layer of mat and a layer of stitched mat tabbing on the aft side if the bulkhead. 

Once the other side is done ill probably beef up both sides with more mat and roving. 

My immediate goal is to not slow down Ron.  That means finishing the tabbing on the galley and aft head bulkheads, providing measurements for the tank mount, tabbing in the upper tank mount when I get the plywood, and finishing off the saki settee work.  

The salon Settee needs lots done:

1) a few mechanical fasteners, 

2) some filler in a joint between floor sections,

3) a few fillets and tabbing along the fronts of the settees,

4) epoxy painting if the panels and boards,

5) final sanding 

6) Priming

7) sanding again 

8) painting 

9) hoses run

Once that is done, the tops of the settee can be screwed down.  I will probably wait on tabbing these in, in case I need access for something like wiring. I'll need to be careful not to let epoxy get all over my fresh paint. 

When this is done I should be able to keep up with Ron as he builds stuff it will be back to painting again.

If I have any free time it will go to working on the aft bulkhead, auto pilot mount, and the floors and the forward lockers,