Portable tank rack

[pescador775]

I bought an "egg carton" rack on EBay and converted it for use with 6.9 steel cylinders. Outriggers were added for stability on board. I haven't tested it yet so don't know if it will crab walk in choppy seas. If so, might require a lashing. Don't anticipate any real problems. Very light to carry on and off and should last for a few years.

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=72723&cat=533

 

[dave4868]

Looks good! Nice job on the outriggers, too.

Lashing the neck of one of the middle tanks to the gunwale will keep it in place.

That's all I do with my 6-tank Pelican racks.

Dave C

 

[RSL]

Some PVC Pipe cut into sections and tied together with some rope will work well too, to keep tanks from rolling around.

 

[Timbur]

I never had luck with the pelican style egg crate racks. Usually by the second season, the black vinyl covering cracks, and rust sets in really quickly, staining my nonskid deck. Now I just use a homemade stabilizer which is basically a PVC version of the styrofoam one that can be found in dive stores. We lay the tanks down on their side until ready to be rigged up. Tanks cant fall if they are already laying down. The pelican racks also dont hold some of my wide diameter steel Fabers.

 

[Hoosier]

Slick design.

How can I download the picture? Could you please post it as an attachment?

Thanks in advance,

 

[k_Woolfsmith]

I made a great tank rack for under $10 Can, so thats what $1.50 US??? Uses two pool noodles (local wal-mart) and used some yellow nylon rope (local hardware store), tied knots, total time, 1 hour, layed my tanks (5 Hp 119's) in my van, worked great in buddies truck and in SUV's, cheap and easy and the best thing was when it wasn't being used it got pushed under the seats and out of the way, plu sif you have fun with it you can make it all kinda of colors for the kiddies to play in the pool.

Karl

 

[skdvr]

Here are a few pics of a tank rack I just made last weekend. This is great for taking 4 or 6 tanks, so that you do not have to have all the tanks across the back of your car. Save a lot of room... I got the plans from Technomage in this thread.

 

[mike_s]

Skdver... nice rack.

but how do you fit that thing into your car unless you have a SUV?

and if it's vertical with 6 tanks on it, how do you keep it from tipping over from having a high center of gravity when making turns?

 

[Hoosier]

and if it's vertical with 6 tanks on it, how do you keep it from tipping over from having a high center of gravity when making turns?

Good question... That's what I want to ask...

If it is a mobile one, it should solid enough to hold tanks. Otherwise, we kept hearng a PVC waggling noise or falling down to the side.

 

[skdvr]

If you start from the bottom up it does not move espically if you have your other gear around it. There is no PVC waggling noise either that thing is solid as a rock. All the joints are glued together and you can use it as a ladder if you want to. My buddy was wondering the same thing this weekend when we were heading to the Dive Site so I put 4 tanks in it and tipped it about 60* and the tanks did not move. You would have to hit a corner pretty darn hard to get it to even start to tip over. When I do put 6 tanks on it I would put a bungee cord over the top ones but even without you would probably be OK.

It probably would not fit into a car. I do drive a SUV that I put it in, although if you only make it for 4 tanks it may fit into some car trunks.

Here is what I used to build it...

(9) 24" Sched 40 PVC pipe
(8) 10" Sched 40 PVC pipe
(12) 6" Sched 40 PVC pipe
(8) 4-way connectors (for bottom and middle corners)
(4) 3-way connectors (for top corners)
(6) T connectors

The cheapest place that I could find the 3-way and 4 way connectors was www.usplastic.com

If you have a vehicle big enough to put one in then I would suggest building one. You will not be disapointed.

Enjoy
Phil