I am planning a plywood tank and need a price breakdown so i can show it to my dad without him having a heart attack. He also likes building stuff (jack of all trades) wow i am going off topic. Please just post a link of the stuff you use and rate it.
Link for what epoxy to use for plywood tanks?
- Thread starter poly-nomial
- Start date
I'm using west system on my build its at the higher end of price scale though so I wouldn't show him that. but maybe get him started so he get some intrest in it then spring it on him lol. I can't think of the site adress but you can just google west sytems and it will come up and good luck convincing pops I'm pulling for you
I used this to build my tank with. I'm also using it to construct some of the interior decorations:
http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-TANK-P...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4838d63592
It's just about aerospace grade so an accurate scale is a must. Some experience with epoxies would help but is not necessary. I like it because I've personally seen the numbers and after cure there is no leaching of anything. They have a lot of info already on their pages.
http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-TANK-P...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4838d63592
It's just about aerospace grade so an accurate scale is a must. Some experience with epoxies would help but is not necessary. I like it because I've personally seen the numbers and after cure there is no leaching of anything. They have a lot of info already on their pages.
Building a plywood tank should be similar to building a plywood boat and in my opinion there is no product that can compare to West Systems Epoxy for wood boat building.
Skip the epoxy and go with Pond Coat from Permadri. It's a water-based product, brush or roll on, with no VOCs and has 850% elasticity. There are several builds going on right now that are using it including my 4300 gallon tank.
Here is a link to the Permadri that Pete mentioned. I am in the planning stages of a tank myself and this seems to be the way to go. I will also include a nice video that's worth watching. Permadri and liquid rubber are the same thing.
http://www.permadri.com/pond-coat.html
http://www.liquidrubber.ca/video/NewVideo.html
http://www.permadri.com/pond-coat.html
http://www.liquidrubber.ca/video/NewVideo.html
fishaddict401;3750108; said:
The Pond Coat from Permadri sounds like a fantastic product but I'm not sure it would be high on my list if cost were a primary concern.
Pond Coat has been mentioned on this sight as costing anywhere from $46 to $57 per gallon depending on how much you order. That's before shipping and I think for simplicity we'll not factor that in for now as it's location dependent.
But I calculate it at 75% solids by volume (55% by weight) so it needs to be applied thicker to achieve that final dry mil thickness of 40-60 mil recommended by Permadri.
So the $46 to $57 you're paying "per gallon" of Pond Coat is really only for 75% of a gallon.
So really with Pond Coat you're paying $61 to $76 per gallon of solids.
Still pretty good, in my opinion.
But epoxy resins only require a dry mil film thickness of 10 to 20 mil to form a waterproof membrane and they are 100% solids so everything you're paying for ends up forming that membrane.
For simplicity let's say Pond Coat needs a final dry film thickness THREE times that of epoxy.
What this means is that is as long as a 100% Epoxy resin product is less than $180 to $225 per gallon it will be cheaper than Pond Coat.
I'm not writing this to say Pond Coat is a bad product. I am writing this to show how you can't simply look at the cost per volume when comparing a products that vary in percent solids and in recommended dry mil thickness.
Personally I find the whole concept of Pond Coat very intriguing.
But I also consider it to be a very expensive product.
CJH;3758706; said:
that's good to know never looked at it like that .thought epoxy would cost the most
I don't think you can really count on "Solids by volume" or weight or whatever. I think you have to go by manufacturers recommended coverage area per gallon.
At 40 mil, Zavlar/permi-dri/liquid rubber will cover 30 ft2 per gallon. What does a gallon of epoxy cover at the manufacturers recommended thickness?
Thats how I'd compare costs
At 40 mil, Zavlar/permi-dri/liquid rubber will cover 30 ft2 per gallon. What does a gallon of epoxy cover at the manufacturers recommended thickness?
Thats how I'd compare costs
kallmond;3759035; said:
If you calculate for both percent solids by volume and recommended dry film thickness you are essentially calculating coverage.
If you go by manufacturers coverage rates then sometimes you're also accounting for what they assume is the substrate being covered. They list these coverage rates to cover themselves and to make sure their customers are acheiving a proper dry film thickness.
I'm only taking these numbers and trying to show people how to compare costs when it comes to their tanks.
To answer your question about epoxy, assuming a smooth surface, a gallon of any marine resion will cover 160 sq. ft at 10 mil dry film thickness and 80 sq. ft and 20 mil dry film thickness.
The epoxy companies I have talked to have said that 20 mils dry thickness is overkill for a plywood tank.
But I like overkill...
I do want to point out that 40 mil dry film thickness is the minimum recommended by Permadri. 60 is the max.
So if we're comparing minimum to minimum, epoxy will cover five times as much as Pond Coat.
Again, I'm only comparing actual costs not the benefits of one sealer over the other.