A new approach

There's nothing quite so rewarding as going forward with one plan only to scrap it and start again after realizing that a new approach makes more sense and should have been pursued from the beginning. And so here I am with a new bed for the holding tank laminated and ready to be installed in the v-berth and a new idea hatched.
Rather than install the new holding tank - which, by the way, is the still-to-be-ordered #B115 - in a tight-fitting fiberglass bed, the plan now is to create a watertight enclosure under the v-berth that has enough volume to do two things: contain any slop from the holding tank in the event of a leak, and provide a means of collecting and draining green water from the anchor locker into the bilge rather than flooding the compartment in the v-berth, as it has.
I've already removed the bed for the original holding tank. Sunday, if all goes as planned, I'll grind out the remaining globs of bonding material in the v-berth and prep the area for fiberglass work. The idea at this point is to create a horizontal support out of marine plywood that is glassed in place, and create the verticals out of construction insulation covered in fiberglass cloth. Once everything is glassed together I'll drill a hole in the bed and fit it with a drain that will empty into the bilge. At least that's the plan so far.
The idea of using the Ronco tank that was close - but not close enough - to Ariel's original met its demise when I decided that removing pieces of Ariel's interior to "fit" a new tank was utterly ridiculous. It just seemed wiser and more appropriate to reconfigure the area under the v-berth to accomodate a new tank than to remove pieces of trim, an amateurish endeavor at best. Beyond that, the new approach will provide a proper drain for the anchor locker, something Cape Dory apparently didn't think about.