Lay up your own custom tank

Nice well-illustrated PDF article from the Plastic Classic Forum,
http://www.plasticclassicforum.com/

http://64.26.138.220/alex/CC30_CustomHoldingTank.pdf

This would produce the maximum tank volume for any space you want to fit a "custom" tank shape into.

I confess that I have not (yet) tackled something like this, but have done smaller pieces with biaxial cloth and believe that I could. Epoxy is easier to work with than poly resin and lacks toxic fumes, so I would use that instead.

"Submitted for your consideration", but not from the Twilight Zone...


Loren

ps: cannot U/L it here because the file size is too large

That's a nice Article. I did something similar. I built a mock up tank, took measurements and had a plastic tank fabricated for about $200. I was able to fit a custom 18gal tank in the space that had a 10 gallon square tank.

http://treilley.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album09

Squaring off those round corners really doesn't lose much volume and you have a tank that can be reproduced by a manufacturer fairly inexpensively.

This caught my attention because I'm currently fabricating a fuel tank for my small sailboat out of fiberglass. Problem is, after a cursory search of the site, I find nothing shedding light on what the final surface inside the tank should be: waxed resin, laminating (tacky) resin, gelcoat, or epoxy. Any idea which is best & why?

Dan Morehouse
1981 E-38 "Next Exit"

Keeping the molecules inside

Modern fuels, whether gas or diesel, have a lot of odd chemicals in 'em.
I would guess that you would want an interior coating that was totally un-reactive. Epoxy would seem to indicated, and poly resin would not. I know that there are commercial "tank resin" formulas for just this purpose -- more research will be needed.
If you want to write to me back channel, I have a contact for more info - a guy that worked in the industry and has build integral tankage for a large sailboat.

Loren