Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
Forum Discussion
Kitchen Cabinet, Post #23
Ready to epoxy the inside of the greywater tank. I'm a little better prepared than last time.
I've removed all the hardware from the box. From what I've read the trick is to get the epoxy to soak into all the wood surfaces including the sides of holes that have been drilled. That's why I made all the holes for pipes slightly larger than needed. That's so there is room for several layers of epoxy to built up on the hole surfaces but still have room for the pipes that pass through. Anyway that's the plan. Will also be epoxying the lid but not installing it on the tank until later.
The electronic scale worked really well the first time. It allows me to mix up just however much epoxy I want to work with at a time and get the ratios spot on.
Just like the first time I've started epoxying in the morning of a day off so I can work on this uninterrupted until it's done and not worry about adding addition layers after it's cured.
Kept brushing on another epoxy layer after the previous one started setting up.
After so many layers it started dripping off the inside when I rotated the tank.
At that point I stopped adding epoxy and kept rotating the tank until it set up some more.
Now at this point it was a horrible gooey mess so seemed the right time to reinstall all the hardware and start on the pipes.
Cut the fiberglass cloth into a bunch of inch wide strips. I majorly underestimated how many of these I'd need and kept cutting up more and more. I started this project with 2 yards of fiberglass cloth thinking that would be plenty. I almost ran out.
Added the strips one at a time and then painted on more epoxy with a chip brush. The overflow pipe didn't look this messy by the time I was done. As the epoxy starts to set up it will hold shape better.
I've coated the threads of the exposed screws on the outside with vaseline so the epoxy won't stick. On the inside of the tank all the hardware was painted over with epoxy several times. Next up is the drain pipe.
To give the drain pipe some extra hold I've cemented a coupling to the pipe. The coupling is larger than the drain hole so it can be pressed up against the inside tank wall. Then epoxy it all in place.
After the inside of the tank had setup to the point that it wouldn't get fouled I added the high level indicator.
Next was to screw the lid in place and epoxy in place. At the same time I'm adding a section of 1-1/2" PVC pipe to the top of the lid. This is placed so it's directly above the drain hole and will act as a guide to the drain pipe that is slide through the floor into the top of the tank.
I'm worried about the hole in the top of the tank lining up with the through-the-floor drain pipe. There isn't much leeway if they don't line up. That's the purpose of the positioning bolt on the front of the tank. Thought that I could always bevel the inside top edge of the PVC to help if need be. Ends up I didn't have to.
Here's what it looked like when I was finished.
Two days later. Trim off the excess fiberglass threads and smooth off the outside of the drain pipe where there was some epoxy buildup.
Here's the tank ready to go. The flexible rubber coupling on the end was what I was planning on using to join the tank to the dump valve. I ended up using a different coupling.
continued -
Ready to epoxy the inside of the greywater tank. I'm a little better prepared than last time.
I've removed all the hardware from the box. From what I've read the trick is to get the epoxy to soak into all the wood surfaces including the sides of holes that have been drilled. That's why I made all the holes for pipes slightly larger than needed. That's so there is room for several layers of epoxy to built up on the hole surfaces but still have room for the pipes that pass through. Anyway that's the plan. Will also be epoxying the lid but not installing it on the tank until later.
The electronic scale worked really well the first time. It allows me to mix up just however much epoxy I want to work with at a time and get the ratios spot on.
Just like the first time I've started epoxying in the morning of a day off so I can work on this uninterrupted until it's done and not worry about adding addition layers after it's cured.
Kept brushing on another epoxy layer after the previous one started setting up.
After so many layers it started dripping off the inside when I rotated the tank.
At that point I stopped adding epoxy and kept rotating the tank until it set up some more.
Now at this point it was a horrible gooey mess so seemed the right time to reinstall all the hardware and start on the pipes.
Cut the fiberglass cloth into a bunch of inch wide strips. I majorly underestimated how many of these I'd need and kept cutting up more and more. I started this project with 2 yards of fiberglass cloth thinking that would be plenty. I almost ran out.
Added the strips one at a time and then painted on more epoxy with a chip brush. The overflow pipe didn't look this messy by the time I was done. As the epoxy starts to set up it will hold shape better.
I've coated the threads of the exposed screws on the outside with vaseline so the epoxy won't stick. On the inside of the tank all the hardware was painted over with epoxy several times. Next up is the drain pipe.
To give the drain pipe some extra hold I've cemented a coupling to the pipe. The coupling is larger than the drain hole so it can be pressed up against the inside tank wall. Then epoxy it all in place.
After the inside of the tank had setup to the point that it wouldn't get fouled I added the high level indicator.
Next was to screw the lid in place and epoxy in place. At the same time I'm adding a section of 1-1/2" PVC pipe to the top of the lid. This is placed so it's directly above the drain hole and will act as a guide to the drain pipe that is slide through the floor into the top of the tank.
I'm worried about the hole in the top of the tank lining up with the through-the-floor drain pipe. There isn't much leeway if they don't line up. That's the purpose of the positioning bolt on the front of the tank. Thought that I could always bevel the inside top edge of the PVC to help if need be. Ends up I didn't have to.
Here's what it looked like when I was finished.
Two days later. Trim off the excess fiberglass threads and smooth off the outside of the drain pipe where there was some epoxy buildup.
Here's the tank ready to go. The flexible rubber coupling on the end was what I was planning on using to join the tank to the dump valve. I ended up using a different coupling.
continued -
