Normally I hate Silicon Sealers . . .

What do I mean normally ??

I hate the stuff period !!

It has always seemed to me to be the stuff you use to make a bodgie repair when you didn't design it right in the first place.

And it's the stickiest substance known to man with no known solvent!
And it teleports all over the place when you are not looking - onto your best tools - down the front of your shirt (on the inside no less) - etc..

Needless to say I normally avoid it like the plague.

Nevertheless the underside plates have been welded on and a paintable silicon filler/adhesive has been squirted into all crevices to prevent the ingress of damp/dust etc..

Mind you there was nearly a disaster before all that was finished.

Ages ago I explained how and why the airbag suspension bit was going to work under the truck.

This required a reinforcing bit to be fitted into the camper chassis to transfer the load to the main beams, like so:


















Well as you can see I fitted one on one side but left the other out for the time being until I got the tanks for under the floor. I had specified where I wanted the holes in the tanks but had been warned that they may not be "exactly" in that spot. So I figured to wait until the tanks arrived just to be sure as it was going to be close, Like this:


















Then I realised that I had specified four holes in each tank but only needed three (inlet, outlet, breather) as the sensor was now mounted on the top. I could therefor block off the fourth hole and put the support piece exactly where I wanted it.

Of course by now I had welded on the bottom plate hadn't I ??
And the support piece couldn't be "wiggled" in a fit !!
One of which I was now of course having.
So - out with the cutting wheel, grind out a section of the plate, fit the support in, weld on the bottom plate again, fill in the gaps with the damn silicon, again !!
Mind you it all fitted nicely when finished (and if I hadn't told anyone it would never have been noticed - would it ?)















In order to fit the tank it was necessary to fit the underfloor piece for it to sit on while everything was checked.

So I figured it was about time to start that process.
Each piece was previously cut to overall size but there are a few brackets etc. in various places which need trimming around.














Similarly there are a few welds in the supports which I would rather not grind off. It's easy to lose 80% of the weld strength with a bit of injudicious grinding.
Again they are a reasonably tight fit into their openings so the fillet curve on the inside of the angle iron means they don't sit down properly unless the edges of all the boards are rounded off.

A quick whip around all the edges with a router and concave cutter fixes that and a slot cutter takes care of the recesses for the brackets.
























And there we have it.
















All the underfloor boards resting in place.

Next they need all the cut edges sealed and then the boards "glueing" into place.

At least it feels like progress!!