When I began route hoses to the new, 50% larger holding tank, my hope of utilizing the existing holes in the forward bulkhead evaporated. The line in (deposit) hose lines up well with the hole in the upper, left of the image above. The line out (withdraw) hose will require a new hole 15" below the upper hole. I could not bring myself to drill anew without first filling in the existing holes. In the image above, the four holes filled are filled with epoxy thickened by mixed it with chopped up fiberglass mat.
Once the plugs in the holes cured, I used epoxy thickened with west systems 405 filler (brown) to fair out the surface of each side of the bulkhead. While the fairing remained wet, I applied a layer of mat to each side of the bulkhead. The mat will bond the repairs to the entire bulkhead and hopefully return some measure of strength lost when each hole is drilled.
Tomorrow we will return to C'est la Vie a drill a couple new holes.
Of course this process took place in the freshly painted vee berth and head lockers. Once this repair has cured and the new hole is drilled we will need to break out the primer and paint - again.
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