I had the same concern and I cant tell from the photo how this is avoided but got me to thinking how I sleeved through some barrels I have for my home made pond filters. This could take some of the stress off the plastic on the barrel.
You could use the electrical male/female PVC couplings and slide your axil through that.
The attached picture is not mine but it does show the type of adapters I'm talking about.
Forgot to add.
I really like this idea Jayne.
thanks for posting.
