Reattching fuel tank in original location

(For East Coast Built Tritons)

Chuck Millar, Cadenza, #616

I attached my gas tank in its original place under the starboard cockpit locker (east coast Triton). (tank looked at from the direction of the galley.) I have glassed in a piece or red oak that is 2.5 X 2.5 X .75 inches with three bolts sticking through it (the bolts still have black electrical tape around them to keep the glass out of their threads).

This photo shows the forward and aft ends with slightly longer blocks of oak bolted to the top of the first one and cantilevered so as to hold down the bottom lip of the tank. (The red line going under the tank is part of the choke cable snaking back under the tank on its way to the engine.) I still need to remove these top blocks of red oak, coat them with epoxy, let them dry, and bolt them back in place, this time with lock washers. But the system seems to have achieved its purpose of holding the tank down securely. My only advice to anyone wanting to use a similar system would be to install the forward block farther inboard.

If you look at the (this) photo, the block needs to be moved about 2 inches to the right to allow easy clearance of the tank past it to the left (during removal the tank can be lifted and moved to the left, but only so far, and the position of this particular block does not allow the tank to get by very easily). Alright, I'll admit it, I had to use a crowbar to get it in and it's never coming out again unless I chisel out this block that was supposed to make it easily removable, ...but what the hell, I learned about how to use fiberglass, didn't I?