Anyone interested in 83 Pace Arrow Tear down and Rebuild?

I must admit, I've struggled just a little bit for the last week.

I wanted to start working on the tanks, but I just haven't been able to settle on exactly what how I want to do them, so I decided to move on a little and come back to them shortly.

Still working on a couple of options.

It would certainly give us a bunch of extra storage inside if I moved the black/gray tanks outside, and just leave the fresh water inside.

Decisions, decisions. Lol.

I keep tightening the clamps just a little bit at a time, trying to find out how far I can bend thin strips of wood.

So far, we're at about 4", which is about a 2" radius. If I had tried to do this all at one time, it would have snapped the pieces instantly.

Easy does it.

I pulled the clamps off of the black walnut, and sanded it just a little to smooth things out just a bit.

I cut 2 of those pieces to just a touch longer than what I need, and then got my clamps out again, and proceeded to glue 2 of those pieces together.

Next step is just to let the glue cure, before sanding.

The pieces I didn't use, should provide me with enough to be able to finish off the front of the cabinet.

I then took the piece I just cut off, and took it to the table saw, and proceeded to cut 4 strips, 1/4" thick, like this. If I had glued all 4 of these together, I would have a piece about 7" wide, and 1/4" thick.

Tonight I pulled out my portable circular saw, and proceeded to screw a piece of plywood to the bottom so I could cut through my piece of 2" thick black walnut.

I need some for the drivers side cabinet below the counter top. I cut off a piece about 1 - 1/4 inch wide the full length of the board.

Since the Ryobi won't cut 2 inch thick wood, I cut just over 1 inch deep from the top, then flipped the board over and cut the rest from the bottom.







Almost all of the cut looked like this, which was not noticeable that it was cut from both the top and bottom. Somedays, things just work like they should.

PastorCharlie wrote:

fulltimin wrote:

PastorCharlie wrote:
Aluminum will corrode, fiberglass or plastics will not.

I have built "touch tanks" aquariums that hold hundreds of gallons of salty brine water for sea creatures to live in where people can have hands on experience with them and they have not deteriorated over many years of use. Build a tank the size and shape desired out of exterior plywood and use chopped fiberglass and marine epoxy.

Am I better off using epoxy or is fiberglass resin do-able, which is also much cheaper?

I use West System epoxy...locally it was a $100.00 per gallon a couple years ago, last time I looked.

When doing large projects We used five gallon buckets of epoxy and hardener in one gallon cans. Follow recommended mix. I recommend using slow hardener if not use to working with it. The fast will go off before you can use it in hot weather. Use 3 inch fiberglass tape on all joints and brush or roll on epoxy. Chop fiberglass and roll on epoxy. Lightly sand after dry. Apply two more coats using fiberglass and then epoxy and lightly sand between coats when dry. The final application needs to be sanded smooth to avoid any hangs.

Must use breathing protection and eye protection from the glass during sanding. Provide plenty ventilation.

Thank you.

sundancer268 wrote:
Polyester resin is the one to avoid if I remember correctly. Go to the West Systems Epoxy WEB site West Systems PDF Book.. This book has about all the information you could ever want on working with Epoxy.

Thanks for the link. I'll have to give it a read.

fulltimin wrote:

PastorCharlie wrote:
Aluminum will corrode, fiberglass or plastics will not.

I have built "touch tanks" aquariums that hold hundreds of gallons of salty brine water for sea creatures to live in where people can have hands on experience with them and they have not deteriorated over many years of use. Build a tank the size and shape desired out of exterior plywood and use chopped fiberglass and marine epoxy.

Am I better off using epoxy or is fiberglass resin do-able, which is also much cheaper?

I use West System epoxy...locally it was a $100.00 per gallon a couple years ago, last time I looked.

When doing large projects We used five gallon buckets of epoxy and hardener in one gallon cans. Follow recommended mix. I recommend using slow hardener if not use to working with it. The fast will go off before you can use it in hot weather. Use 3 inch fiberglass tape on all joints and brush or roll on epoxy. Chop fiberglass and roll on epoxy. Lightly sand after dry. Apply two more coats using fiberglass and then epoxy and lightly sand between coats when dry. The final application needs to be sanded smooth to avoid any hangs.

Must use breathing protection and eye protection from the glass during sanding. Provide plenty ventilation.

Polyester resin is the one to avoid if I remember correctly. Go to the West Systems Epoxy WEB site West Systems PDF Book.. This book has about all the information you could ever want on working with Epoxy.