There's A Hole In The Bottom Of My Tank...

I'm really happy with the work I've gotten done on the Airstream so far, and Valentine's weekend was a really good one. It was one of those weekends where I made so much progress, and the progress was so visible, that I really could see the light at the end of the tunnel, for maybe the first time during this whole project. I was happy and proud to show off the pictures of last weekend's work, to my family and friends. It was a great weekend no doubt.

And this past weekend was pretty much the opposite of that. It was one of those weekends where you just feel like you're spinning your wheels, doing a lot of work, with little to show for it. Right now here's the sequence of events that I have in front of me:

1) Finish black tank repair.
2) Install insulation
3) Update ground wiring for 110VAC sockets.
4) Reinstall lower panels
5) Install black tank
6) Install tub
7) Build new vanity
8) Install new vanity
9) Repair tall wardrobes
10) Install tall wardrobes
11) Repair upper locker cabinets
12) Install upper locker cabinets
13) Rebuild twin beds
14) Install water heater
15) Install twin beds
16) Plumb freshwater system
15) Plumb hot water system
16) Plumb drain system and vents for gray and black tanks
17) Go camping!

So you see, right now, everything depends on getting my black tank repaired and installed. This is key, because if I can't repair it, I'll have to purchase a new one, which will likely be a different shape, and the vanity and street-side tall wardrobe closets are custom-fit around the black tank.

If you recall, when last we visited the black tank, it needed a good cleaning, it needed to have 4 holes through the bottom repaired, and it needed the old rust screws drilled out of the old brass casting for the Thetford dump valve.

Cleaning it was not difficult, but it was pretty gross. No major issues in particular, just a general grossness. I guess I'm squeamish like that. Let's talk about something else.

So the next order of business was to repair these holes:


The holes are offset from the cast mounting flange. I used a long-handled brush with soap and water to clean from the inside, and a brush with soap and water on the outside, too. Then I used some chopped fiber mat and fiberglassed over the holes. It's not pretty, but I think it's solid. When I get a valve attached finally, I'll be able to leak-check it.


Then I moved on to the rusty screws. Many coats of PB Blaster had been applied to them, and yet I still could not turn them out with the vice grips. One of them only had some rusted bits left in the threaded hole, so I was able to clean all that out with a small screwdriver, some soap and water, and some q-tips. For the next one, I used the Dremel to cut it off level, and drilled a pilot hole through the center of the rusty threaded rod,and then used my screw extractor (aka easy-out) to pull out the remaining bit of threaded rod.



And then that's where things unraveled. On the third one, the extractor bit lodged tightly in the hole I drilled through the screw, but my vice grips kept slipping off of it. So I attached the t-handle from a tap & die set to get some extra leverage. And, extra leverage was achieved-- so much so that the extractor bit broke off inside the screw I was trying to extract.

So, now I am left with a broken extractor bit, lodged inside a bored out rusty bolt, lodged inside a rusty bolt hole, in a cast flange in the bottom of my black tank. Yes, there's a hole... there's a hole... there's a hole in the bottom of my tank.

No pictures here, I was too frustrated, but I think my plan right now is to take the whole assembly to a machine shop and see what they can do to help. It's bound to be cheaper than buying a new custom tank.