33 - Frames away getting painted

 I finally finished preparing the frame and got it rubbed down ready for painting. I left it over with a friend and hopefully he'll get it done in the next week or two. I'm looking forward to starting to put her together again. It's been spread out all over the floor for too long.


 I have a bit of a problem with the petrol tank. I put tank sealer in it 20 odd years ago and now its all starting to crack and come away from the fibreglass. Of course there's very little access down inside the filler cap so there's no way to remove it all before sealing it again with fresh stuff. The people who make the tank sealers say not to put any dissolving solution into it as it will only react with the resin in the glass and make it a whole lot worse, and I don't think swishing nuts and bolts around inside will get it out either.

  So I contacted a guy who works in a boat yard where they make fibreglass hulls. The plan was that if I cut a couple of holes in the bottom of the tank it would let me in enough to poke about and get the old sealer out. Then they could patch the holes up again for me before resealing it, but he's not overly keen on the idea. 

 So I thought a bit more about it, and the idea going round in my head at the minute is why not just cut the entire bottom out of the tank. Then I could fabricate a tiny aluminium tank to fit inside the fibreglass unit and finally reattach the bottom piece of original fibreglass. It would look the same from the outside but all aluminium inside. It doesn't need to hold much, just enough to start it and take it for a wee sail. I might be biting off too much here but i'm thinking about it.