froggy1150
Master Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2017
- Messages
- 849
So after much research and debate this is what I did. My tank was foamed in originally and there was no room to change height of tank. I chose to go the open air route sitting on neoprene strips. Do to make sure the bottom of the tank was supported I first put several layers of csm/1708 where the tank was to be supported getting skinnier each time. 4 each side. Then I glassed a wood wedge to fill the majority of the space. To get to the final height I mixed a bunch of really hairy pb and mounded it atop the wood wedge,covered with a piece of 8 mil plastic and set tank down. Repeat 7 more times. Cleaned up mounds and some glass where needed.Now I glued the neoprene down with 3m 847 (I think that's right number). I gel coated just cuz. So tank went in and then I glued all of the side neoprene in. So to do that I would push tank to one side with a Porta power and insert rubber, then push opposite direction and do the same. Now tank is locked in side to side/front to back I install the "clamps" to hold the tank down. Those too have neoprene on them and sit on same plane as all the stringers. They have screws in them but will really be held with the deck. All the screw holes have been over drilled and filled with glassy resin. So tank don't move, open air, is firmly supported from below, is allowed to move in the center top and is only touching neoprene. And still just fits. I do want to touch up the gel coat even though no one will see it. That's why I left the original alodine and paint. Didn't think it was worth cleaning up.