Grey Water tank leakage

[JohnGreydanus]

Thank you for the posts of past years on hairline cracks in the GW tank.
We incurred one now also.
I've used two layers of Medium Black ABS cement.
It did not truly fix the problem but helped somewhat.
My wife then told me she had purchased Flex tape.
I placed that on the crack, which is in the center of the rib in the middle of the tank, as well as by the out take. Yep, two leaks in one trip. No clue why.
Anyway, I read that one should drill a small (HOW SMALL?) hole at the start and a hole at the end of the crack. Would that not make the sepage worse if the cement or the flex tape do not fix the problem.
Also, I read about 'welding' the crack. What exactly is meant by 'welding.'

So, at the point in time I wonder if I should take off the flex tape AND scrape of the cement to the best of my ability and start over.

Any good suggestions from you who know more than I do on this, and I don't know too much, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.
John G.

[JohnGreydanus]

BTW our trailer is a TM 2027 model year 2007. Its been around but works great.

[Kidkraz]

You shouldn't need a large hole. Drilling a hole at both ends of a crack, is referred to as "stop drilling". I'll assume a size of the lead in yer standard #2 pencil would work. The intent is the holes, prevent the crack from growing longer. It's been awhile since I've read those other posts on repairs. I believe folks took shavings of black pvc and mixed it with the glue to make a patch.
Hope this helps some. Good luck.

[JohnGreydanus]

One more minor correction on model: 2720SL

[Shane826]

I had a crack 2/3 around the outlet pipe plus one in the middle rib of my gray tank. I used this plastic weld epoxy (bought from Home Depot but can’t find it on their site now), it worked mint. The whole saga about prep & repair is on the TrailManor Fans page over on Facebook, link below. Also I’m working on a support for the gray tank similar to what the Factory now puts on the new units (won’t fit the older units as they use a different tank these days). You’d be amazed how much the belly of that tank swells when full of water. A bit of support has to help there.

https://www.jbtools.com/permatex-841...yABEgIw6_D_BwE

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694...6144045316882/

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Kidkraz

The ... holes prevent the crack from growing longer.

If you visualize it in your mind, the stresses concentrate at the tiny bit of material at the very narrow end of the crack. These concentrated stresses cause the crack to propagate further. By drilling a hole, you open up that very narrow region - the stresses are not eliminated, but they are distributed.

Think of putting the blade of a table knife down between your fingers, edge first, pressing into the flesh. You don't need a lot of force for the edge to cut into your skin. Now think of turning the knife so the flat is pushing into the skin. You can apply the same amount of force as before, but because the force is distributed over a wider area, you don't get cut.

Bill

[JohnGreydanus]

Shane, I just ordered the permatex plastic welder from JBTools online. Hefty shipping but rather pay that than getting a bigger mess with the GW tank. I'll post after having received it and worked on it. The pictures and description on FB were very helpful and made me purchase the permatex.
Bill, thank you for the illustration

[Bill]

John -

Hang onto that welder! Every once in a while, someone drops too much weight onto the Thetford toilet seat, and cracks the tank surface below it. Prevention is easy - repair, not so much. See

https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...ad.php?t=10819

for some discussion and photos. Post #1 shows repair. Post #8 shows prevention.

Bill

[JohnGreydanus]

Bill, should you read this, I have the following question. Per Shane's, suggestion, after having drilled pinholes (was able to use a 3/32 inch drill bit) should I get some PVC pipe (color does not matter, I'm sure) and then use the permatex welder, paste the pipe shavings and welder in the holes. Should I then wait for 24 hours before covering the cracks? Just wondering.

For the time being, I've tried to shave off the ABS 'glue' as much as possible by/on the crack and wonder if it would be good to 'sand' the area a bit, making it rougher so the weld may hold better?

[Bill]

John -

My apologies, I cannot answer your question. I have not experienced (or repaired) a leak in the plastic tank, and I have not used a plastic welder. Other folks here on the Forum have done both, and you can expect to hear from them.

Bill