The panels had arrived early so we were at the stage where we were waiting on the water tanks. We wanted to install the grey and black tanks in the under body to allow us to put the first floor on. There was just one problem, the tanks were still going to be a few weeks away, at least that’s what we thought.
Due to the Christmas/New Year break the tank mob didn’t start back until Monday 15th so first up on Monday morning Fred contacted the guy for an ETA and much to our surprise we were told that our custom fresh tanks were ready but the, off the shelf, black and grey tanks would be delayed. Bummer, the ones we wanted were the ones we would be waiting on. Much to our surprise, we didn’t have to wait long and they all arrived on Wednesday. You bloody beauty!
Lucky Fred contacted them on Monday, as he discovered that in the haste to order the tanks, he placed the inlet and outlet points on the grey tank in the wrong orientation. This was a “holy fire truck” moment as it meant we didn’t have enough clearance for the pipework. Thinking caps on and Fred came up with a simple but very effective solution. Ring the company again and ask if they could move the fill and drain points. Yep, no problems so situation averted.
So time to get cracking and Fred whipped up some brackets to attach the grey and black tanks to the under body. We were pretty keen to get them in because we can then lay the first floor ready to install the fresh tanks. All steps closer to getting the walls up and beginning the fit out. I make it sound so easy, while Fred is constantly squirrelling away in the back ground.
Next step, attach the water level gauges and whack ’em in. Wham bam thank you ma’am, black tank in! Right, now for the grey tank and holy schmoley we found that it was not so squeezy with only millimetres to spare. All good, Fred made it work, but had to drill through the subframe to allow the pipe attachment.
This created a new potential issue, now that we have a hole in the subframe, how do we stop water getting inside and it then rusting? Lucky Fred is a clever guy, fill it with a larger pipe or something similar and seal around that. Absolute genius, now what to use? Why not an empty paint tin, why not indeed – it worked a charm. Another hurdle ticked off.
Brackets attached and tank installed. Grey water tank in – tick!
There is a little bit to do to be ready to lay the first floor and Fred is onto that now.
- Wire up the level gauges
- Sand and re-paint the subframe
- And while at it, he is prepping for the bathroom by fabricating the floor bearers.
Should be all done in a couple of hours lol!
Stay tuned…… hopefully next week I’ll be posting photos of the first floor down.