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Thanks to everyone that helped with ideas, advice, suggestions and all that in the forum thread about this project.
Once we had all of the pieces and parts gathered, I went to take a restroom break, and then, before I knew it,
he already had the channel bar cut to size for the rack piece, and had it in place to see how it fits.
Here's a bonus pic of the surgery recoveree...
Cutting the 8th" bar for the strap
forming a bend in the strap
forming another bend in the end of the strap to help pull it down when cinched
checking to see where the bend needs to be on the other side of the strap
marking the spot
checking to see if the two bend spots line up correctly
adjusting one of the ends of the strap
drilling holes for the strap bolts
measuring the distance of the strap bolt holes to make sure the bolts are placed right on the rack
taking the rack down to drill it and install the strap bolts
drilling bracket holes (5/16" bit for 5/16" bolts)
checking the fit
Securing the bracket bolts tot he rack
once installed, we saw that the bracket bolts were a bit too long. So, he cut 1/4" off each one with my jigsaw
testing bracket cinch with wing knobs
putting rack back in place with the bracket bolts installed
here's one of the wing knobs used to tighten the strap onto the tank (bonus view of my IV tape marks)
securing the tank with the newly fabbed bracket
very nice job!
marking to help know where we will need to cut the shelving unit to help the tank fit properly
cutting notch in the shelving unit
chisling out the rest that couldn't be cut very easily with just a jigsaw
putting everything in place again with the notched shelving unit
perfect fit
I think it's a great solution, and I still have a little room on the rack for an extinguisher some day
Next, I put my two 25' hoses together to see how it all works
(I will eventually be getting a better rubber hose so it's not so bulky to store,
and goes further without scratching up Sandi's paint and all that
So, that's it.
Originally, I was going to order one of these from PowerTank...
Power Bracket BKT-2282
As it is though, all of the various pieces and parts together only cost me about $25-30,
and I would have needed the $15 piece of channel bar (and M6 bolts) to make the 'rack', either way.
So, I still like that PowerTank bracket above (out of all of the others I've seen) and would recommend it to others,
but since my father-in-law wanted to help me out, I basically saved at least $75 when I consider shipping.
All in all, I am very happy to have the tank and have it mounted in the cargo area,
and it's neat to have yet one more thing done on Sandi by my father-in-law.