Day 135

The process of making the diesel tanks was such a tedious and messy task that I wouldn't take the camera in for fear it would be full of slag dust, so there weren't many photos of the process!

The sandblasting was quite a bit better than the last time because we used slag in place of silica. Mainly this was for visibilty, but it did make a very good pattern also. White-ish, with a sparkle.

We also blasted out the sump area, the battery box area, Waste water area, and trim ballast hatch cover.

Coal tar epoxy was applied in all of these spaces. ( Top photo )

The order the diesel tanks had to be painted was in three stages.
First, the whole aft tank was painted up to a couple inches below the hull join.
Next the top was welded on that side, and that painted from the inside through a large hole in the baffle from the forward tank.Also the inside of the forward tank was painted
Finally, the top plate was welded on and the inside top painted through the access ( photo to right ) hatch.

The forward side of the tank

The stainless waste water tank will slide into the frame ahead of the tanks. This was coated as well as the battery box, and the Trim cover

( for forward lead trimming )

The fittings on the diesel tank are for fill/ venting, fuel draw, fuel return, water draw ( from the deep sump at the bottom ) and level indicator. The level indicator is actually for a jeep, but modified to go much deeper. The float must go diagonally corner to corner to have room to rise and fall. It's plate is in the top left corner in the above photo.

Here's the aft-most layout of the keel.

Day 135,136 &137:
19 hours total: Sandblasted, coal-tarred, and welded on fuel tank covers. Tanks done at last!