Ok, here's something just a bit different from the rest of this website. All the images below are linked to 1024x768 versions of the images if you want to see more details that are missing from the small thumbnails. This is fuel tank construction... One of the most talked about parts of the construction of an RV. The dreaded Proseal experience. All in all it's not that bad. It takes much time and tedious cleaning and preparation, however in the end it all goes together nicely. Both tanks are done and leak free now. Construction spanned about 1 week, with another weak finishing up little details. They were finished in Feb 2002.

Here are some random ramblings about my tank building experience after the fact...

This last weekend I was able to get my tanks up to the point of everything sealed except the rear baffle... WOW what a job that was!

My thoughts after going through it include...

• Proseal isn't that bad... Lacquer thinner is!
• Tank sealing is more tedious than hard really.
• Cleanup is the key to making the job fairly easy.

Some of the ideas I gleaned from the various lists and people:

• Use 60cc syringes with drilled out tips to shoot Proseal where ever you need it.
• Get auto shop paper towels from the parts store and cut them up in 3 inch squares. A bucket of a couple hundred of them soaked in lacquer thinner are just right for the millions of small cleanup jobs while working on the tanks.
• Lot's of gloves. I found that I only had to replace them when they tore as the lacquer thinner would clean Proseal off them just fine.
• 20 or so Popsicle sticks from the craft store made great work of smoothing out the beads of Proseal.
• I mixed by volume as I didn't have the scale. It worked great for me. I used 1/3 cup part A to 1 1/4 tsp part B for my large batches. This was enough to seal all 5 interior ribs if you worked fast.
• I mixed 1 Tbsp to 1/4 tsp for small batches like end ribs etc.
• Cleanup the cups with lacquer thinner again...
• Use lot's of scotch removable tape (rivet tape). It's the blue box at staples.

Strangely enough the Proseal didn't smell that bad while working on it. I was more taken out by the solvents. Was using a respirator for some of it also. However once the job was done... The next morning man did it smell like Proseal in the garage! I still don't think I could compare it to Gary's cat ordeal!

Lastly thanks for all the tool tips on tubing. I got the Rotoflare (from Cleveland tools) and a basic 2 handled bender from Lowes, along with a basic tubing cutter. Followed all the advice about oiling the flare, cleaning the burrs, doing the bends etc... and man those shop built fuel pickups came out looking very nice. It was very satisfying to build those small parts!

Also, I was able to close the end of the tube nicely by using a triangular chainsaw file to saw crossing v-grooves in the end of the tube. You file until you end up with 4 pointed triangles left on the tip, then carefully bend in and roll over the 4 points until they nicely close up into and sealed end. It's really cool, you got to try it!