Painting tanks?

[knowone]

How schmick and shiny is this

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/members/zky.html

[iluvtheocean]

would spraying bedliner on the tank work? it's very tough, scratch resistant, and waterproof. Also doesn't require heat to cure.

[KWS]

I have seen tanks that have been painted.. some (few) of those i would do an anual inspection on. those tanks have a thin coat on it and still show the scratches and scrapes and the metel beneith the paint. then there are the tanks that have been painted ad you can see they have been bondo'ed to make smooth again. or has been painted with the thick opaque paint. you can not to any extent say you have examined the surfce of the tank for gouges ect. the inspection is a safety issue and the painting is an obstruction to that process. paint from the factory is not a concern. the surface was goood when the paint was appliled. even with them the paint is checked for bubbling and is poked with pointed tools to see if moisture has penitrated. my tankes are faber and painted from the factory. would i remove the paint from them.. no way in ****. however one bubble and the tank gets stripped to metel or trasehed. The bed liner idea may ber a good protective covering from future damage, but no one knows that tank was good when it was done. i would use those diamond tread tubes (chineese finger puller) that slide over the tank. i use them for transport and in the water. no tank slide. my tanks are well into thier 2nd hydro and look new. in short the painting issue should be looked at as an access issue to the tank metel surface, and a question as to whether the tank metel t4emper has been compromised. the very presence of non factory paintng says the tank may no longer have the temper because of the probable heat that was used to cure the paint. painting os a PSI checklist item..

would spraying bedliner on the tank work? it's very tough, scratch resistant, and waterproof. Also doesn't require heat to cure.

[wetfox]

My personal preference is to strip paint from cylinders if there is any indication of bubbling. Then the metal surface is treated appropriately (oxidation removed, ensure that there are no pits greater than PSI tolerances, etc.). If all is good, I leave aluminum cylinder bare. I cold spray the old steel 72s with a thin coat of galvanizing primer and then a top coat (I usually use Rustoleum paints). I do not recommend bedliner paint since it gives you a false sense of security. My previous truck developed significant rusting under the bedliner spray where salt water penetrated tiny pinholes not apparent to inspection by eye. The salt water was thus trapped between the paint and the steel, and the bed rusted. On my current truck I left the bed as it came, always hose it down after a dive trip, and use a rubber mat to protect the bed (I picked up a couple from Lowe's for about ten bucks each).