This whole process has taken awhile to get done. When Lucy came over to help we did some measuring and I decided how the tanks were going to be fitted, but of course has happened so often during this project, the plan changed.
A few weeks ago I took the vehicle down to Woodbridge where I was assisted by Gruesome who very ably fabricated four brackets from 5mm x 40mm flat bar. The brackets simply ad a bolt welded on one end and a right angle pice on the top with a hole drilled in them. The brackets were then bolted up throught the floor at the front and onto the fear crossmember at the rear.
When I left Woodbridge the brackets were all made and fitted. All that I had to do was make 4 supports out of light galvanised angle to bolt onto the vertical brackets.
The tanks have turned out to be a tight fit and there was definately no way I was going to get any biger ones in the space that I had behind the back wheels. This means that the capacity of fresh water on board will be 120 litres plus the 20 litres of the hot water system making a total of 140 litres.
Because the tanks are a tight fit, I decided to use contact cement to stick 12mm foam to the sides of the tanks and onto the supports. This has had the effect of not only preventing the tanks rubbing on the steel around them, but also to keep them properly in place if the happen to be empty while travelling. The following pics show the foam used and the tanks in place.
This pic gives a good idea of how the tanks are mounted. You can see the Gruesome fabricated brackets and the galvansied angle. The foam is stuck to the brackets and at all points that contact metal surfaces to stop rubbing.
This one is a view of the tank on the right side of the vehicle. I have had to lower the exhaust bracket to allow enough room for the tank and the support. I will have to have the tail pipe straighted and moved over towards the centre of the vehicle later.
You can see that there is not a huge amount of clearance between the tank and the spare wheel, but enough that it will not cause any issues. In the next post I'll cover the plumbing.
