The Bathroom Begins

The trailer originally had no holding tanks.  Not many changes in the space except for the addition of the holding tank, but I really want it to function well as a wet bath.

That’s the way the shower pan looked when I took it out in the gutting process.  I’ve decided to reuse it, just shortening to fit the new space and a bit of polishing.

New bulkheads are rough cut, the tank is in place, and the shower pan is smaller.  I’ll be using white FRP panels on the inside of the bulkheads and the aluminum will be painted white.

5/8’s ply will sit on top of the tank and 1/2” King Starboard will form the visible surface.

I’ve seen Starboard, but have never used it.  It works like wood, cuts easily, and can be fastened with screws.  It should give me a nice waterproof surface that will be easy to keep clean.

This Perko marine scupper drain (used to drain the cockpit on a boat) is the shower drain fitting.  It has a simple check valve in it, just a floating rubber ball.  It’ll use marine sanitation hose to form a P trap before running forward to the gray tank.  I’ve also dished out the subfloor surface around the drain to encourage the shower pan to drain.

Last post of the year and nearly two years into the project.  Hard to believe it’s been that long, but there’s clearly light at the end of the tunnel now.

-steve

Finishing the Black Tank

I don’t know how many hours the tank has taken, not a lot.  But it’s been one of those jobs that takes small parts of many days:  a layup that takes just a few minutes, an overnight cure, and another layup and cure.

I inset the drain fitting and laid up several plies of cloth over it.  Hate it when I do these things:  put the tank in place and considered where to put the drain, took everything into consideration except the fact that Airstream made these trailers with frames, and of course, dead centered the frame rail with the drain.  Easy fix, I’ve admitted it, and no longer have to explain the patch you’ll see in some of the upcoming pictures.

Fittings got installed in the top along with a couple of thin wooden stiffeners glassed in.

Next, 1x2’s were bonded and glassed in to form a mounting flange for the tank top.

And this is all that was left of the 10 yards of cloth I had ordered, positive I’d have plenty.  The roll on the right in the picture is the additional 5 yards I had to get.

I used a marine sealant to mount the cleanout fitting.  The nozzle will sit under the bed and connect to the fitting I installed on the outside in an earlier post.

The tank top was bonded to the bottom with thickened epoxy and attached with some temporary screws.

Finally, today I removed those screws, trued and rounded the outside edge slightly and finished the job with a two ply layup just over the seam.  Peel ply comes off tomorrow after cure and the tank is done.

-steve 

Continuing with the Black Tank

Cold weather has been slowing progress down quite a bit.  Most days I have Pam with me, so we do the ten minute drive to the trailer to turn the heat on and then do something else for an hour or so to let it heat up.  I like to get her off the boat for awhile most days, but she is now in a wheelchair mostly and everything takes much more time.

After glassing the inside, I turned the tank over, filled the holes used in wiring it together, and rounded the edges with a belt sander.  Today I glassed the outside with 3 plies of cloth overall and a couple more where the drain fitting will go.

When the third layer was wetted out, I put a two inch strip of dacron peel ply on the edge.  Peel ply saves a lot of work.  It’ll pull off when cured, leaving a nice surface that won’t need sanding to prepare for the layup to fasten the top of the tank.

Tomorrow I’ll trim the edges and maybe get started on the top and the drain fitting.

I ordered a few laminate samples for the galley counter top and everyone who has seen them has picked this one.  I think I have too.  Water heater and toilet have now arrived as well.

-steve