Day 2345

Tuesday March 5th 2024

Dear Journal:

Again I’m up before six this morning, but at least it was closer to six than it was five today, the coffee perk is on the burner and we should have fresh coffee shortly. Mister Sam didn’t even get up to greet me this morning, the crescent moon is smaller and there is just a trace of dawn over the mountain range. Again it was cool in the coach this morning so I turned on the electric heater to take the chill off. We enjoy a cup of blessed coffee as we catch up on the news, cinnamon rolls this morning for breakfast before Miss Laurie heads off rock hunting in the dry creek bed, with just over a month until our departure I will be tackling another project today now I just have to decide which one as the list is long and now I need to prioritize my approach.

Decision made, today I’m going to tackle a major project, one that has been a problem since the spring of 2019. It is a task that I have attempted to conquer multiple times, I have spent a lot of money on fixes 0r proclaimed fixes from numerous companies, I have watched literally hundreds of YouTube videos on how to resolve this problem and so far none have lasted more than a few weeks or a few months at best. So what is todays task well it is the same leak on our fresh water tank, that first came to light in March of 2019 when we were preparing to head north from Florida.

So lets look back at what I have tried so far, all of the FLEX products, the tape, the liquid, the chalk, none worked more than a few days at best and some didn’t even last a partial tank fill. Then there was the JB WELD products, both marine and water, neither worked. Then I moved to some adhesives like GORRILA tape and glue, then silicone adhesives, then urethane adhesives, and then I tried Eternabond tape, still no good. Then I moved on to the combinations like a two part epoxy, covered with Flex Seal paste, and then covered by some Eternabond tape to if nothing more make it look good, because it did not stop the water leak.

I have dreaded this project for what seems like forever, and after watching more YouTube videos I had decided to try to weld the tank. I know everyone thinks of welding as attaching two pieces of metal, this is the same principal only using heat and plastic sticks to melt into the crack. What I have learnt over the years is that our water tank is made of Polyethylene and basically nothing will bond to it, not glues, epoxies, adhesives or the like. But by using heat from any source it will melt and if it melts you can use a welding stick of the same material to fill in any holes or cracks by melting it all together, and unlike a glue or epoxy it will be bonded. At least that is the plan, and I have borrowed a plastic welding kit from Mister Ray who purchased the kit to repair a grey tank on his fifth wheel trailer, he said it worked well but he also had ordered a new tank and has replaced his grey water tank.

So I have removed the Eternabond tape, the Flex seal paste. as well as the most recent two part epoxy and have now removed the adhesive from the split area, my intention is to fill in the split with a plastic welding rod and then add a piece of metal mesh then to melt that into the tank and cover it with more melted plastic, the metal will hopefully reinforce the split when the tank flexes during filling, the time when the bond is broken on adhesive products. I have to do this is stages so that I do not overheat the tank itself and end up with a much bigger hole than what I have now. So fill the split, then cool it. add the mesh and melt it into the tank, then cool it, and finally add the plastic rod to the meshed area then cool it, check for possible touch up areas then fill the water tank and see what happens. And this all happens with be laying on my back working over my head with limiter space to maneuver my head and arms to right handed tasks to left handed tasks, while the area is lit by my DeWalt flashlight. Even just planning my process and I’m thinking to myself what could possibly go wrong?

Ok I figured out one more issue, as I was trying to see what I was doing while trying to look through the close up portion of my bifocals while working with my arms over my head! Well as you can see it was not a total success, but compares to previous attempts with numerous products I’m thinking that I’m ok with my first attempt. Not a task for the faint of heart as these tanks are not that thick and it takes a fair bit of pressure to get everything to melt together. I have called it a day and placed a container under the drip and I will check on the volume of the leak tomorrow. I can’t fix the leak with the tank full of water, but I hate to dump 100 gallons (378.5 liters) of fresh water on the ground, so if the volume is small enough I may consider a second attempt back in Ontario as we will use a good quantity of the water by the time we get home or we could shut the water supply off and use the tank of water while still here in Arizona.

My conclusion is simply that this repair process is the only solution that works, and after five years of multiple attempts I should have started here. After spending most of the day in the coach basement I have decided to replace all of the wood supports under the fresh water tank, this tank holds 100 U.S. gallons of water and one gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds (3.785 kilograms). 834 pounds is a lot of weight and the tank flexes a lot, so extending the supports to support more of the tank appears to be a excellent idea, but the supports will need to be cut to fit and the tank will need to be empty to allow the replacement.

I have settled into my recliner and I’m watching the Global news broadcast out of Toronto, to be honest I’m pretty much done for the day, apparently a seventy two year old man can only crawl into the coach basement so many times in one day. Miss Laurie said that this would most likely be her last rock hunting excursion, as there are more and more creatures starting to stir. It is another beautiful sunny day here in Arizona but Miss Laurie is correct with this much heat we will start to see many hibernating creatures very soon most of which we really don’t want to see.

Dinner tonight was chicken fajitas, I have to admit we eat very well, Miss Laurie has adapted to the small galley kitchen in our coach, I assist with the occasional barbeque item but Miss Laurie is the planner, the shopper, and creator of all our great meals. The addition of an air fryer last year has added to the cooking options and we still use the pressure cooker for things like spare ribs and rice pudding, our microwave/convection oven works well but is very noisy when operating, and is small enough it makes baking cookies an all day project. Well tonight will be the American news, a new episode of the voice, and then a few chapters of my most recent book and maybe even a sample of ice cream just to keep track of the freezer operation.