February 11, 2021

Lively Heels Phase 3-17

Thursday

Continuing work on the deck box, after a light sanding I applied another round of fairing filler to all four sides.

The new holding tank I’d ordered had arrived recently, and now I began preparations for its final installation.  The owner wanted to use all bronze fittings for the hose connections to the tank, along with a large inspection port, so we’d ordered the tank with only two small threaded fittings on one side, which the owner would use for winterizing and casual inspection.  The remaining fittings would all be installed here at the shop.

I began by test-fitting the tank in the space to ensure that the dimensions all worked out as planned.

The owner wanted to install the tank at a slight angle so that the discharge side–the left side in these photos (port side of the boat)–would be lowest, making it easier to drain the tank as completely as possible for winterizing and such.  So my first task was to build an angled platform to support the tank above the actual floor of the locker.  After measuring, I cut a piece of 12mm plywood to the correct size for the space.  I figured raising the starboard side of the tank about 1-1/2″ would provide sufficient angle for drainage, and planned to cut a series of wedges to both angle and support the platform properly.  I didn’t have any suitable scrap wood on hand for this, so instead I milled a series of 1/2″ x 1-1/2″ strips from leftover plywood, and glued up four blanks that I could use to make the wedges.  I used temporary screws to clamp these assemblies while the epoxy cured, and would be able to continue work on the platform next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  9°, mainly clear.   Forecast for the day:   Becoming sunny, 24°.