Leaky Old Fresh Water Inlet

[Brian G.]

Could you give me some advice please? When it rains, water comes through my old fresh water tank inlet. The fresh water tank has been removed. I thought I'd like to remove the inlet and then fiberglass over the hole. But I wonder what is the best way to remove it? You can see the three screws are very rusty. The heads are disintegrating and I can't get my plyers to grasp them. From the inside, I see that the bottom screw goes through the wall and the other two screw into wood. I suppose I could use a very small drill bit and drill through the screws from the outside. Is there a better way?

[mszabo]

Use a Dremel with a cut off wheel. Cut a slot across the screws, And use a screwdriver to remove them.

[floyd]

Just drill out the rusted rivets/screws and it will come right out.
Then you can put a round flat piece of plastic in its place or
you could simply install one of the inlets shown below.
It would not look like a patch and it could be there if you ever want to reinstall the tank.
You could even glue the lid on or use it as a port for extension cords or such.

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Brian G.

Could you give me some advice please? When it rains, water comes through my old fresh water tank inlet. The fresh water tank has been removed. I thought I'd like to remove the inlet and then fiberglass over the hole. But I wonder what is the best way to remove it? You can see the three screws are very rusty. The heads are disintegrating and I can't get my pliers to grasp them. From the inside, I see that the bottom screw goes through the wall and the other two screw into wood. I suppose I could use a very small drill bit and drill through the screws from the outside. Is there a better way?

You do this chore the same way you drill out rivets. Use a drill bit that is the same size as the diameter as the screw threads. An alternative is to use a Dremel motor and grind the heads off the screws. You are going to toss that water filler fitting into the trash, it does not matter if the grinder hits on the plastic part. After you pry off the plastic fitting there will likely be enough of the screw shaft left to remove it with your pliers. If not just go ahead and drill some more. You are going to fill in those hole anyway.



I removed one of those fittings when I was renovating the shell on my Campster trailer plus a bunch of other old fittings and then I filled in the openings. Here is a link to a posting in the forum where I was working on filling in some of the old holes from the original inlets and outlets. http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post600447


By the way I have a brand new one of those old water inlet ports. I ordered it to replace the original but then changed my mind and decided to move the water tank to a different location and use a different style of filler. If you want it you can have it for $1.00 and the cost of postage. Just PM me and I can arrange to invoice you for the postage via Paypal. I have to charge a $1.00 so I can buy the postage through Paypal, I don't stand in the post office lines

[Brian G.]

Excellent advice friends. Thank you very much. The more I work the more I learn.

Brian G.