October 2021

 Oct 3,

I'm starting to prepare the inside framing for the tanks that I have partially made.  I need to make one of the floor boards wider because the water tanks will overhang and not be properly supported.  I had a few ideas including bolting up some steel angle iron or stainless.  Both kind of expensive.  I had a big chunk of wood left over from cutting out some of the smaller floor boards and it turned out to be the perfect size and I am not using any of the dimensional lumber I have left.

I'm rough fitting the piece next to the floor board in the middle  of the picture.  I needed to notch it for the longitudinals and cut the bevel to match the hull.  This is the first fitting and it doesn't quite fit.   I'll have to trim some more off the notch.

I cut the bevel first and then marked where the notch will go.  I can't actually make it a 2" notch.  The angle of the notches on each end are tampered so the piece would not fit so I'm just going to continue the cut on the bottom to the edge of the timber.

I already did the port side.  "P" on the end is for port.

Back to the starboard side, I've made a series of cuts to the line.  Next, I'll use the chisel and cut these out.

I'm making sure that my cuts are correct.

And now the notch is cut, I can fit it.  As I said above, it will need a little trimming.

Again, I make a series of cuts with the hand saw down to the new line.

Chisel it smooth and it is done.

Refitting, you can see that it fits very nicely.

Next I drill for lag bolts.  I predrilled the holes for the lag bolts in the new timber using a drill bit suitable for the threads of the lag bolt.  Then I clamp the piece in place.  I take the drill bit and mark the holes in the floor boards by inserting it in the predrilled house and tapping it.  I remove the new timber and redrill all the holes to the shank of the lag bolts and drill the floor board suitable for the threads.  Add some epoxy, clamp in place and bolt together.  On these larger timbers, you can't expect the bolt to bring the pieces together.  The twisting torque is likely to sheer the bolt in half, so clamp tightly and then install the bolts and bring the bolts to just where the washers are tight. 

It's time to set the tanks in place to make sure they fit and to work out the plumbing details.  This port water tank fits nicely and I'm sure the starboard side will as well so I'm not going to place that one yet.  I'll need the room for now to maneuver.

The black water tanks where more complicated but they too fit very nicely.  I needed to check both of them.  Now I'll work out the plumbing details.  I already a general plan.

So if you are wondering how I got the tanks in the boat, well I borrowed some technology from the Egyptians.  I was going to have a friend come over and help lift but he ran off to do some camping. When you work by yourself, you better be innovative.