I'm in the Miami area and need to make a tank for under a v-berth.

What I found is that most people don't like epoxy because of leaching.
Polyester is not so bad but you need to gell coat the thing really well
- twice. Plastics are hard to weld and you need to buy a hot gas welder
- and you need to do it in a small area. the soft tanks are what I have
now and I will be glad to give mine to someone when I am done, if they
want it.

I have found some places that will custom make a tank but the cost is
higher then I would think it should be. Does anyone know of a place
that makes tanks for less then $300?

Also, does anyone know of a good liner material to line a glass tank.
It seems no-one wants to claim their product does what it is meant to
do.

Thanks

Da Kine wrote:
I'm in the Miami area and need to make a tank for under a v-berth.

What I found is that most people don't like epoxy because of leaching.
Polyester is not so bad but you need to gell coat the thing really well
- twice. Plastics are hard to weld and you need to buy a hot gas welder
- and you need to do it in a small area. the soft tanks are what I have
now and I will be glad to give mine to someone when I am done, if they
want it.

I have found some places that will custom make a tank but the cost is
higher then I would think it should be. Does anyone know of a place
that makes tanks for less then $300?

Also, does anyone know of a good liner material to line a glass tank.
It seems no-one wants to claim their product does what it is meant to
do.

Thanks


If you build your own tank using epoxy and knitted glass then coat the
inside with epoxy tank resin (different than laminating resin), it will
cost more than $300.

Ronco, here in SoCal, has oodles and oodles of tanks. Check them out.

Lew

Da Kine wrote:
I'm in the Miami area and need to make a tank for under a v-berth.
Does anyone know of a place
that makes tanks for less then $300?

Go to metal fab place that supplies the restaurant business.
I had one 25 gal and one 45 gal water tank fabricated. Using 316L SS.
Restaurants are very cost conscious and want their stuff to look good
too. Do not go to a marine welder. You'll get ripped off.

Do not forget the baffles and other "proper" tank stuff.

I once worked at an experimental oyster hatchery that also conducted
bioassays to determine the suitability of different materials for use
in hatchery and sensitive water systems. Oysters are very sensitive
creatures when developing and therefore made excellent indicators.

Aluminum...............? uggg, heavy metals mean Alzheimer city

Polyester fiberglass takes a long time to leach out the bad stuff. But
will wash clean after a few months of continuous flushing. Even many
FDA plastics approved for potable water systems is a bit toxic for
oysters. Copper is instant death to oysters.

Take a hint from our bivalve mollusk
buddies.............................USE 316L

Or if you're really cheep...................... get lots of 2L bottles.
very storable, cheep, versital, and extreamily safe becsue your water
supply is "compartmentalized" into 2L containers not a single 45 gallon
tank.
Aquatic Bob

Probably the best (for a custom shaped tank) is to use a fiberglass
tank lined with polyethylene (pre-scrimmed) sheeting. The polyethylene
sheeting has impedded fiber structure on one side so that it can be
mechanially bonded to the fiberglass; the seams will need to be welded
and then spark tested for integrity. The 'pre-pegged' sheet is very
hard to find but many tank buildrs have access to it.

All metal and fiberglass tanks can be lined with a 'potable water' NSF
rated epoxy for leachables consideration .... but you have to buy a
minimum of 3 gallons @ $100/gal. The ratio of surface area to water
surface is 'just over the limit' on leachables (NSF) so you will have
to think about a recirculating carbon 'stripper' filter to pick up the
stray monomers.

Stainless is horrendously expensive due to the recent price escalation
of the world price of metals and the sinking US$.

For easy cleaning and good sanitization chemicals compatibility I'd go
with a blow or roto-molded polyethylene tank. Ronco Plastics is
probably the largest marine source.





In article om, Da
Kine wrote:

I'm in the Miami area and need to make a tank for under a v-berth.

What I found is that most people don't like epoxy because of leaching.
Polyester is not so bad but you need to gell coat the thing really well
- twice. Plastics are hard to weld and you need to buy a hot gas welder
- and you need to do it in a small area. the soft tanks are what I have
now and I will be glad to give mine to someone when I am done, if they
want it.

I have found some places that will custom make a tank but the cost is
higher then I would think it should be. Does anyone know of a place
that makes tanks for less then $300?

Also, does anyone know of a good liner material to line a glass tank.
It seems no-one wants to claim their product does what it is meant to
do.

Thanks

i thought about SS first but thought that it would be so heavy ..
maybe I'm thnking too much. If i want to go with about 45 gal. tank,
how thick do you think I should get on the metal? There is a place near
me that I can buy the 316 on the cheap but welders are few and far.

Thanks

the thickness of the stainless can be kept fairly thin ... if you
install lots of baffles and internal supports.
the achilles heel in stainless tanks is the quality of the welds.
Welding creates a heat affected zone that is more vulnerable to attack
by chlorides and is also more vulnerable to fatigue. The least amount
of welding will create the stronger (chemical-wise) tank.

In article . com, Da
Kine wrote:

i thought about SS first but thought that it would be so heavy ..
maybe I'm thnking too much. If i want to go with about 45 gal. tank,
how thick do you think I should get on the metal? There is a place near
me that I can buy the 316 on the cheap but welders are few and far.

Thanks

I was thinking that too. I think I will get one big sheet and then fold
it twice. I will have 2 welds on the fat end and one on the thin end
plus 3 at the top where I don't think it will matter much.

I just called Simmons Stainless in Miami today to get their thoughts
and they said the same thing you just did.

THanks