Chuck D. Jedlicka

What a List! You guys are terrific. Two hours after I posted, the following is what I received. In the meantime I went to the boat and struggled some more through sandpaper-on-a-stick blind. Met a new chap near my boat, after visiting and assessing the problem, he said "cut a big hole, get some power tools in there and fix it directly". Then we went over to his (new for him) boat where I was helpful on some electrical stuff. (12/24 mix.) I come home, sign on, and voila! ....................................................... I know the frustration of groping around in a hole blindly trying to do a simple job that should take minutes but takes hours. Recently installed a thru-hull transducer that was in a similar location where my arms were three inches too short. Spent hours on what should have been a 5-minute job, and am still not really happy with the results. Not sure what your constraints are, but I'd weigh my options carefully - if you don't have a clear way to get the job done properly through the 9-inch hole maybe you'd be better off cutting a new or larger hole, fixing the crack properly, and then fixing the hole, perhaps with some sort of gasketed hatch for future cleaning/inspection/repair. Good luck. Bob Deering God save us from free advice, but here goes: 1. you are using poylester, not epoxy.....this is a job for epoxy which has much greater adhesive capabilities. 2. From your description, ( or at least my perception of your description ), I beleive I would use a Skilsaw or sabre saw to greatly enlarge the access opening in the top. Leave a 2-3" margin aroung edges and save cutout for later. 3. Working from the INSIDE of the tank, install several strips of EPOXY impreg mat and cloth to the inside of the corner. (no mold, nothing). 4. Grind and epoxy your top back in place and let the whole mess cure for a few days. Don't like all this?..........alternative- caca in bilge for life!! Let me know how you make out.....good luck BTW......WEST, SYSTEM 3, and MAS epoxy are all acceptable, just follow instructions......e-mail if questions. Regards, Chuck D. Jedlicka "The material I am using is Evercoat 100554 Premium Marine Resin, "a Polyester Resin thixed and waxed for easy application" One big thing right up front is that Polyester doesn't bond well with other cured polyester. You must use EPOXY not polyester. Very different animal. Epoxy will bond with anything including well cured polyester. Epoxy is much more expensive than polyester so thats a big reason they don't use it for whole boats. I don't believe it likes to release from it's molds either. Which brings up my second question, why are you building seperate parts? If you can get to the crack from the inside, scrape the paint off and put a good coating of epoxy on the crack. Then a good wet strip of matt or woven fiberglass soaked in epoxy. Then another one and another one until the same thickness covering the crack from the inside. Build up until the crack is the same thickness as the rest of the tank (or more). I may be talking out of my hat here as I can't really visualize the tank and it's crack. Stick to epoxy. ( wow what a pun ) Best Regards, Al Johnson Ah, the joys of working on the septic system. Seems like I've done too much of it, including home in the country, rental property, boats... The one thing that stands out in your post is the 9 inch hatch. I'm not an expert on working with fiberglas, so I'll leave that advice to others who (I hope!) will be replying. But can you *enlarge* that hatch? I don't know the size of your hatch in the cabin sole itself, but if you could saw a larger circular or rectangular hole in the top of the tank and replace that 9 inch hatch with something that would give you a fair amount more access to the problem area, it might be worth the time and effort to do it. Just my 2 cents worth... -jim ........................................................ My track record so far is 10 for vacillating, 10 for changing plans, and 2 in getting the job done. Thanks guys. Richard