Gordon Wedman wrote:
Anyone had a plastic holding tank fabricated lately? I was quoted $1,200
for a tank that might hold 15 gallons.


Peggie Hall wrote:

Ye gods...who tried to hold you up for that price???

Ronco Plastics makes top quality thick walled rotomolded polyethylene
tanks for a very reasonable price and has more than 400 shapes and sizes,
over 100 of which are non-rectangular...and they install fittings in the
sizes and locations specified by the customer when they make the tank.

Ronco does NOT fabricate custom tanks, however...they don't make welded
tanks, only the rotomolded tanks for they have molds...and the cost of
making a mold for a one-off would be prohibitive. If they don't have a
mold that suits you, there are two companies who do make custom welded
tanks for a reasonable price:

http://www.seafabtanks.com/

http://www.triplemplastics.net/

They both use polypropylene instead of PE, which is fine for water or
waste holding.

When the told me over the phone " twelve hundred dollars" I said "one
thousand two hundred dollars???" I was certainly taken aback considering a
friend told me he had a tank made by them "a couple of years ago" for
something like $300. "Oh the cost of crude oil has gone up so much the
plastic is really expensive". Yea, especially if you are a gouger.

I can see why the roto molded tanks would be much more reasonable in price
but $1,200 is pretty rediculous for a custom tank.

I'll check out the two links you provided. Thanks for that and thanks to
other respondents.

Gordon Wedman wrote:

I can see why the roto molded tanks would be much more reasonable in price
but $1,200 is pretty rediculous for a custom tank.

I agree...which is why I'd like to know who quoted you that price so I
can be sure NOT to recommend 'em.

If you'd rather tell me privately, my email address is (my.name)at
gmail(dot)com.


--
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books...ku=90&cat=1304

"Peggie Hall" wrote in message
t...
Gordon Wedman wrote:

I can see why the roto molded tanks would be much more reasonable in
price but $1,200 is pretty rediculous for a custom tank.

I agree...which is why I'd like to know who quoted you that price so I can
be sure NOT to recommend 'em.

I asked my local plastics supplier, Industrial Plastics (Nanaimo) for the
quote but I think they just send it to another company in Victoria, BC.
Don't think you would accidentally recommend them to anyone.
What do you think of the idea of fabricating a holding tank from plywood, FG
cloth and epoxy as suggested by AMPowers? A friend is thinking of doing
this and I might consider it as well.

Gordon Wedman wrote:

What do you think of the idea of fabricating a holding tank from plywood, FG
cloth and epoxy as suggested by AMPowers? A friend is thinking of doing
this and I might consider it as well.

It's a lot of work that doesn't save enough money--if any--to be worth
the time and effort (the $500 AM said he spent is more than even a good
quality custom welded tank of only 15 gals should cost you)...it's a lot
of extra weight compared to plastic...and the plywood will rot/tank will
leak if ANY liquid gets to it, which will eventually happen if the epoxy
develops hairline cracks. Because any problems will be on the inside of
the tank, you won't know about 'em till they become serious enough to be
obvious from the outside of the tank.

Btw...you can save a lot in shipping charges on things you buy from a US
source--and get 'em a LOT faster--if you live close enough to the border
for it to make sense to rent a "Mailboxes Etc" or similar address in the
US. You wouldn't save any duty owed, but you would only have to pay
domestic shipping charges and eliminate charges like the "customs
brokerage fees" that UPS charges. We had quite a few Canadian customers
who went together with dockmates on a US address and took turns driving
across to pick up the stuff they bought from us and other US retailers.

--
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://shop.sailboatowners.com/books...ku=90&cat=1304

Gordon Wedman wrote:

What do you think of the idea of fabricating a holding tank from plywood,
FG cloth and epoxy as suggested by AMPowers? A friend is thinking of
doing this and I might consider it as well.

Peggie Hall wrote:

It's a lot of work that doesn't save enough money--if any--to be worth the
time and effort (the $500 AM said he spent is more than even a good
quality custom welded tank of only 15 gals should cost you)...it's a lot
of extra weight compared to plastic...and the plywood will rot/tank will
leak if ANY liquid gets to it, which will eventually happen if the epoxy
develops hairline cracks. Because any problems will be on the inside of
the tank, you won't know about 'em till they become serious enough to be
obvious from the outside of the tank.

Btw...you can save a lot in shipping charges on things you buy from a US
source--and get 'em a LOT faster--if you live close enough to the border
for it to make sense to rent a "Mailboxes Etc" or similar address in the
US. You wouldn't save any duty owed, but you would only have to pay
domestic shipping charges and eliminate charges like the "customs
brokerage fees" that UPS charges. We had quite a few Canadian customers
who went together with dockmates on a US address and took turns driving
across to pick up the stuff they bought from us and other US retailers.

Thanks again for the reply. I agree that you wouldn't know you had a
problem until it was too late to do anything about it. If I can get a
plastic tank for less than $500 I would be happier.

As for the shipping issue, I've been onto that one for several years.
Fortunately I've lived close to the US border for the last 15 years and
consequently it has been easy to drive across to pick up items. Living in
Nanaimo its not quite so convenient as it once was but I drop into Blaine,
Washington, to pick up items when I visit my brothers on the mainland. I
really hate to pay a Customs Broker $25 to clear something that is worth
$15. For anyone interested, I use Mail Boxes Plus in Blaine, 360-332-1816.
I once had 350 pounds of chain delivered to them.

Gordon Wedman wrote:
What do you think of the idea of fabricating a holding tank from plywood, FG
cloth and epoxy as suggested by AMPowers?

Um, I never suggested using plywood, that is what failed in the first
place, prompting us to build a new one. I built mine from cloth & epoxy
resin. Looking at current prices, my guess is it would be much less
than that to build the size tank you described. My original point was
that we used the project as an excuse to teach ourselves how to work
with the material. If you want to learn how to as well, then this
approach might work, otherwise I'd suggest you pay someone on a fixed bid.

Gordon weird wrote:
What do you think of the idea of fabricating a holding tank from
plywood, FG cloth and epoxy as suggested by AMPowers?

I think it sucks.

I built a 65 gallon holding tank using epoxy and and double bias
knitted glass.

You won't save any money.

You will reclaim space since you can custom build a tank shape to
utilize every cubic inch of weird shaped space using the "lost foam"
process.

Reclaiming what would otherwise lost space on a boat, has a value that
is tough to estimate.

The smaller the boat, the more valuable the usable space on a cubic
inch basis.

Lew