building a 500 gallon plywood tank
- Thread starter kherron666
- Start date
i got to play with the tank , moved it to middle of the living room , and stained the tank and stand to help make more water proff , whole family painted , kids been wanting to help , so they jumping up and down to paint , 4 min into painting , they done , little people , lol anyway me and my woman took good few hours and put a few coats on , i got 5 gallon pail and used half of it , still need to do the doors and the inside of the canopy ,, but got alot done , good play times after working 9 hour already , and soon about to hit the street and do my run , i jog 1.2 miles 3 times week now , so that take some time away from my tank too, i know most of this is a overshare lol
My money's on it at least leaking if not bursting a seam within a year or two.
Why would you paint before epoxying this? The idea is that the epoxy soaks into the wood to get a good bond.
And you didn't re-inforce any of the seams with thickened resin, or fiberglass the seams. This, in my opinion, is the bare minimum you have to do if you're only using epoxy. Epoxy is SUPER brittle by itself, and it's going to crack at the seams if you just paint it on as is.
Also, you've dumped a ton of money into this. $1600 at your last tally. Why didn't you just spend the extra $100 to get fiberglass cloth/mat? You already bought the expensive part (epoxy resin).
No way would I have this time bomb sitting in my living room next to where my kids sit. Just hope it doesn't catastrophically fail while someone's in the living room. Someone could get seriously hurt.
Why would you paint before epoxying this? The idea is that the epoxy soaks into the wood to get a good bond.
And you didn't re-inforce any of the seams with thickened resin, or fiberglass the seams. This, in my opinion, is the bare minimum you have to do if you're only using epoxy. Epoxy is SUPER brittle by itself, and it's going to crack at the seams if you just paint it on as is.
Also, you've dumped a ton of money into this. $1600 at your last tally. Why didn't you just spend the extra $100 to get fiberglass cloth/mat? You already bought the expensive part (epoxy resin).
No way would I have this time bomb sitting in my living room next to where my kids sit. Just hope it doesn't catastrophically fail while someone's in the living room. Someone could get seriously hurt.
thanks for your opinion, everyone has different ways or plans when it comes to plywood tanks , i did my tank the best way i thought , i took the plans from the garfs sight mostly , they built plywood tank for 20 years , and everyone has opinion on things , not that i dont listen to people , but till they been there and made their own plywood tank , talk is talk , but thanks for the input , and yeah i got right at 1600 bucks into it , so if i lose 2 weeks pay , its not a real big lose , it is what it is ,, and if it fails , it fails , been up since christmas day , so far so good and yeah i hope it dont catastrophically fail too , thats is the main safety, i totaly agree with you on that ,, if it fails i would think it would just start slowly leaking water ,, and if its somthing i cant fix , ill have to make a big fire in back yard and watch my dream burn away , like my super model dream , gone in the wind , lol , i started this thing to just share my work , good and bad , and if it fails , least i can say i try , and all you can do is try your best ,,,, so time will tell ,,,
Right, I get that it makes a watertight seal and bonds to paint.
The point is, the paint doesn't bond to the wood in the same way the epoxy does. Epoxy will soak into the wood and become impregnated in the grain. Paint will do that a bit, but not to the same extent.
The issue isn't the initial watertight seal that will be made by the epoxy resin. The issue is that epoxy resin when done without any fiberglass cloth, mat, or tape is SUPER BRITTLE. A lot of people get away with no fiberglass reinforcement on the main plywood flats, but you Need some reinforcement of the seams.
So what you've essentially done is paint a brittle coating on top of paint. It's eventually going to develop cracks in the resin. They'll most likely be at the seams. Wood swells, constricts, and expands as the seasons and humidity change. Your seams in your tank will flex, and if they flex AT ALL with how you have waterproofed your tank, the non-reinforced epoxy (being SUPER BRITTLE) will develop cracks and leak.
This has been done before here on MFK, and people have learned their lessons. Make no mistake about it, your tank WILL FAIL. It's not a matter of opinion or "people thinking about waterproofing differently." If you've still got some resin left, buy $40 worth of fiberglass tape and reinforce those seams.
This isn't coming from some idiot on here that has no experience. I have extensive fiberglass and construction knowledge, and I am a mechanical engineer. I'm telling you it's a time bomb. You can choose not to listen, it's up to you.
Have fun cleaning up 500 gallons of water. It's not just a matter of mopping it up if it hits drywall.
The point is, the paint doesn't bond to the wood in the same way the epoxy does. Epoxy will soak into the wood and become impregnated in the grain. Paint will do that a bit, but not to the same extent.
The issue isn't the initial watertight seal that will be made by the epoxy resin. The issue is that epoxy resin when done without any fiberglass cloth, mat, or tape is SUPER BRITTLE. A lot of people get away with no fiberglass reinforcement on the main plywood flats, but you Need some reinforcement of the seams.
So what you've essentially done is paint a brittle coating on top of paint. It's eventually going to develop cracks in the resin. They'll most likely be at the seams. Wood swells, constricts, and expands as the seasons and humidity change. Your seams in your tank will flex, and if they flex AT ALL with how you have waterproofed your tank, the non-reinforced epoxy (being SUPER BRITTLE) will develop cracks and leak.
This has been done before here on MFK, and people have learned their lessons. Make no mistake about it, your tank WILL FAIL. It's not a matter of opinion or "people thinking about waterproofing differently." If you've still got some resin left, buy $40 worth of fiberglass tape and reinforce those seams.
This isn't coming from some idiot on here that has no experience. I have extensive fiberglass and construction knowledge, and I am a mechanical engineer. I'm telling you it's a time bomb. You can choose not to listen, it's up to you.
Have fun cleaning up 500 gallons of water. It's not just a matter of mopping it up if it hits drywall.
ok thanks for the infor , i never said your an idiot , but i get what your saying ,
