My black water tank overlander 73

[Lothlorian]

I have read many threads on new black tanks and black tank repair. I have visited several RV places to find somebody to weld the top near the 3" threaded hole. I drove one hour to Jackson Georgia where they sell and repair airstreams. They told me that the patch they could do would not hold. I feel I have to get the black tank correct because I do not want to have to rip everything apart again because of a leak.

I guess I am looking for a good price on a new tank or I want somebody who is a craftsman in plastic welding. I have not approached Auto collision repair professionals because they usually weld a harder plastic. At least that is what I have been told. Check out my pictures and tell me what you think. I tried airstream today but they are closed for the holidays.

If my buddy can make me a stainless steel tank I will have him do that. I own an old stainless steel sink that could be put to good use. He could cut it up and weld it.

SIU Bound.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by SIU Bound

I have read many threads on new black tanks and black tank repair. I have visited several RV places to find somebody to weld the top near the 3" threaded hole. I drove one hour to Jackson Georgia where they sell and repair airstreams. They told me that the patch they could do would not hold. I feel I have to get the black tank correct because I do not want to have to rip everything apart again because of a leak.

I guess I am looking for a good price on a new tank or I want somebody who is a craftsman in plastic welding. I have not approached Auto collision repair professionals because they usually weld a harder plastic. At least that is what I have been told. Check out my pictures and tell me what you think. I tried airstream today but they are closed for the holidays.

If my buddy can make me a stainless steel tank I will have him do that. I own an old stainless steel sink that could be put to good use. He could cut it up and weld it.

SIU Bound.

The tank cracked because of the material used.

You can frix it, and fix it, until your tired of taking it out, again and again.

The liability is more than a dealer wants, when they know all to well that the tank will fail again and again.

Replacement tanks are available.

An Airstream that is 35 years old, "will" have parts that must be replaced.

You can get a new tank, or waste far more time and effort than you already have.

Adapting plastic fittings to a stainless tank, is another trick in itself, let alone 3 fittings, plus the probes.

Andy

[maccamper]

I have been down this road recently when replacing the black water tank in our '74. The original tank had been patched - twice, something the seller neglected to mention. I decided to go with the stainless steel tank and discovered the following challenges, er..opportunities. These would apply if you decide to go with a stainless steel or a generic plastic one.

As you may already know, the probes have a very unusual thread configuration: 11/16-18. It took quite a while to find stainless steel nuts and have attached to the side of the tank for the probes, and even then they were jam nuts, so I had to use two per probe. It is not to hard to find an 11/16-18 tap on the Internet, so that, in hindsight, may be a better option.

The bottom of the stainless steel tank did not match the shape of the original plastic tank, so I could not reuse the original slope pan. (it's available if anyone needs one) I had to use layers of high density rigid insulation to set the slope and tank height.

There are threaded inserts available that you can install the toilet flange into, but check the mounting height before you install it to make sure it's not too tall.

For the vent connection, I had the fabricator weld on a short length of stainless steel pipe that matched the same outside diameter as the 1 1/2" plastic vent pipe. I then used one of those neoprene sleeves with the steel bands you can get at the home improvement store.

Be sure and do a leak test before installing the tank, even though the fabricator was very good, there was one weld that did not close up the seam completely.

Good luck whichever way you go.