Water tank fittings

[Peter_Crowl]

The fresh water tank on the Boler has leaks.
Turns out the fittings were glued to the tank and that adhesive has aged and failed...pretty much just like me.
Anyway - I've been looking online for fittings that can be installed with a positive lock from the inside of the tank - kind of like a toggle bolt in a wall.
Do such fittings exist?
What methods have been used by others?

[Alf S.]

Hi: Peter Crowl... Is your tank under the dinette floor (exterior) or in the rear stowage bin (interior)?
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Peter_Crowl]

Exterior - under the dinette

[Donna D.]

Are you going to need to get your hand into the tank to lock the fitting? Deck plate?

[Peter_Crowl]

Well - right - opening up a large opening to facilitate an inside nut is one option...but you'd think there would be a fitting that went into the tank and grabbed the backside like a sharkbite fitting or toggle bolt type deal that pops out once inside.

[Donna D.]

Maybe this? Uniseal Slip Fittings

[Peter_Crowl]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Maybe this? Uniseal Slip Fittings

Yeah - or this - Bulkhead Blind Tank Fitting - Unique Solutions Inc RV Products

[Donna D.]

YEOW $40... for one fitting...

[Peter_Crowl]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

YEOW $40... for one fitting...

No....$39.95

Right - but this is a very odd shaped tank that would be mighty hard to replace. I'd need 2 fittings...one for the drain and the other for the outlet pump connection. The vent and filler are on top and as such I think I could seal those with magic goo...of some sort.

[Alf S.]

Hi: Peter Crowl The flat exterior tank www.polyramaplastics.com Specialty Tanks Model# ERT 8.25 (10US Gal.) gal. is/was still avail with or without fittings from Polyrama Plastics in Edmonton Alta. Canada. Im sure when I dropped the tank out of our '77 boler that all the fittings are spin in type. I did manage to break and replace the drain tap buying one from my local RV. dealer tho!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Peter_Crowl]

Huh...this tank has a pretty intricate shape..but if they have them that'd be great.
The fittings might spin in - but the holes are dished out for some reason, and the existing fittings were all goobered up with sealer. They broke off but that took virtually no impact or effort. The outfeed fitting pretty much fell off when I went to disconnect the tube nut.

[Alf S.]

Hi: Peter Crowl... A picture is worth a thousand words. The tank on our '77 was just a rectangle and was held up by a 2X2 wood frame, 4-6" bolts, and the fiberglass cutout from the front/back window of the Boler. It wasn't a defined shape or fit between the frame rails. Sorry I don't have any pic's. from my tank rebuild as I didn't have a digi cam then.
The spin in fittings actually cut the threads in the tank holes when inserted.
No one ever hooked up the vent line properly so I imagined the tank was slow to fill. When I reinstalled the tank after replacing all the hoses I had to drill out the vent line blank in the fill cup for the new hose.
Our '77 was built in Earlton Ont. and as there were several different factories, and suppliers of components they are all Bolers...but different in some ways.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Peter_Crowl]

Well -
Lots of new information.
My tank - while formed to fit inside rails - apparently doesn't need to be so. Now that it's all out and everything is obvious it would seem they used the same tank for the 13 as the 17. My tank could just as easily be a plain rectangle.

The fittings are called SpinWeld.
Custom PLastics Spin Weld Process

Fittings are available as are the tools that are used to install them. You use a router to spin the fittings in a hole that's been cut with a hole saw.
The friction heat welds the fittings to the tank.

I paid $113 locally to have 4 new fittings welded to my existing tank only to now find out that the tank itself is failing. Deteriorating - getting hard and cracking. It would have been mighty nice of the RV shop who did the fitting work to advise me of this since they do this for a living and I've only been down this road once.
Adding my frustration- they installed a 3/8" fitting for my main pump connection!


I'm looking into getting the fittings and tool(s) since it looks like I'll have to do a total of three tanks.

Peter

[philipa]

you might take a look at colapsable (soft) tanks made to fit into boats if you have a difficult to fit area.