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Old 03-21-2013, 11:26 PM   #1
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Be very careful....

Be very careful drilling through the floor under the bed in a 19' to mount any hardware...the fresh water tank tank is directly beneath the floor...and be careful of the screw lengths used in doing this..Don't ask me how I know!...
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Old 03-21-2013, 11:34 PM   #2
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Ouch.
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Old 03-22-2013, 09:36 AM   #3
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Don't feel to bad, this even happened at the factory only with black tank on my trailer. Before drilling any holes or screwing into any thing on a trailer or vehicle one should know what is behind it. I recently had to change a roll over sensor and SDM ( air bag module) that someone drilled through both of them to mount something to the floor is a full size gm van. That was expensive!!
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Old 03-22-2013, 09:58 AM   #4
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Ouch,
how did you fix the hole, drill the floor hole bigger and then sealed the tank hole?
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Old 03-22-2013, 09:41 PM   #5
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Ouch,
how did you fix the hole, drill the floor hole bigger and then sealed the tank hole?
Jim,

I had 12 holes...about 1/16" diameter, some all the way through the tank wall..some shallower. I removed the tank, heat welded the holes closed and plan to reinstall it tomorrow after I seal the screw exit holes that went through the fiberglass trailer bottom exterior with GE 5200. I'm replacing the water fill hose also because I had to damage the original one to get it off the tank.

To weld the HDPE tank holes I used a very sharp wood plane to scrape some plastic off the tank near the corner edges and then used a soldering iron to melt those shavings into a small hot melted mound over the hole, working it down into the hole then used a flat tip iron to "iron it out flat. It is really sealed well.

...lesson learned!
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Old 03-23-2013, 12:34 AM   #6
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I am impressed with your remediation skills!
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Old 03-23-2013, 01:00 PM   #7
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I am impressed with your remediation skills!
Thanks! The more I screw up the better my remediation skills!
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Old 03-23-2013, 01:17 PM   #8
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Thanks! The more I screw up the better my remediation skills!
Thanks for my big laugh for the day!
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Old 03-23-2013, 02:46 PM   #9
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Well, underside of the trailer screw holes are sealed, tank is repaired and re-installed with a new fill hose and re-sealed around the tank hose connections. All stainless screws inside on the floor hardware have been replaced with shorter screws....back on-line.....lesson learned!...ready for camping next weekend!...and .....now I know how to repair a HDPE tank....hope I never need to use my new skills again!
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Old 03-23-2013, 02:58 PM   #10
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You never did tell us why you were drilling holes in the first place, under the bed in the floor?
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Old 03-23-2013, 03:44 PM   #11
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You never did tell us why you were drilling holes in the first place, under the bed in the floor?
I mounted some aluminum angle strips to the floor to restrain 4 large Rubbermaid totes for storage.
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Old 03-23-2013, 05:28 PM   #12
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I am guessing from your repair description that you don't have the foam insulation sprayed on the floor and over the tanks. Probably a good thing.
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Old 03-23-2013, 05:49 PM   #13
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I thought of putting some 3/8 plywood under the bed and cut out where the bolts protrude from underneath. That would give me a smooth surface to slide my plastic containers in from the outside and from the kitchen without hitting those bolt heads. It's on my list.
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Old 03-23-2013, 08:41 PM   #14
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Next time (hopefully never) go to a ski shop and ask to buy a clear P-Tex candle. It's an HDPE wand melted by lighting, then dripping into ski base gouges, scraped smooth with a metal cabinet scraper.

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Old 03-23-2013, 09:08 PM   #15
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Bruce, Thanks for the tip but I don't want to become any better at this! BTW, I got the idea of shaving material from the tank that was going to be repaired from the tank manufacturer in Canada who told me that HDPE has many property differences even from batch to batch so the ultimate welding rod material is taken from the exact same substrate you want to weld to. Fortunately the job was easy and straightforward. Maybe I will do tank repair when I retire...
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Old 03-24-2013, 10:55 AM   #16
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I converted the rear dinette to a permanent bed & removed the table hardware to provide better storage under it. To keep things in place I added a pair of cup hooks at the top & bottom of the front opening & use a cargo net that came with my RAV4. Works great so far...
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Old 03-24-2013, 11:01 AM   #17
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I zap-strap that cargo net thingy to the head rests for the front seats on my RAV4. Makes a barrier to keep the dog off the front seats.
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Old 04-25-2013, 10:38 AM   #18
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How long were the replacement screws? I'd like to put a sliding shelf under bed also. I'm trying to do it cheaper than the heavy duty drawer slides though. I'd like to secure some wooden/plastic tracks for sliding shelves under bed using corner brackets. Is the base maybe 3/4" plywood?

thanks,

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Old 04-25-2013, 08:22 PM   #19
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How long were the replacement screws? I'd like to put a sliding shelf under bed also. I'm trying to do it cheaper than the heavy duty drawer slides though. I'd like to secure some wooden/plastic tracks for sliding shelves under bed using corner brackets. Is the base maybe 3/4" plywood?

thanks,

-greg
I believe they were 1/2" long but I would call Escape and ask them also because they know the complete construction specs. I think part of my problem was that I drilled pilot holes first and the drilling started the damage...
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