I work for a roofing consultant company and came across a newer product that caught my fish eye.
I have been planning a large plywood tank and have been trying to figure out what kind of waterproofing liner I am going to use. I noticed people are liking the paint on rubber as it has does not have nasty fumes (like epoxy and fiberglass) and is easy to work with and works good for the application.
I found a product that is fairly new to the industry called Wetsuit.
Here is the cool part. The company's corporate office has a pond in the front of the property that is lined with this Wetsuit product.
It comes in 2 forms. One is what they call a one part, which is a paint able form. The other is called a 2 part which is a spray form. They use this spray form to create ponds. They actually just spray the stuff directly over the dirt! They can spay is to any mil thickness, generally 40 - 60mil.
I did some research on the product and was able to talk to the owner as we deal directly with him on roofing projects (as roofing is what this product was made for) and this type of liquid rubber is quite amazing. It is outperforming all the other liquid rubber type products as far as durability and waterproofing. It is priced about the same as the other liquid rubber products but sounds to be a bit more advanced and more ahead of the game. It is a neoprene based patented composition.
The one part would be perfect for making ply tanks. It has no nasty fumes and you just paint it on like the other rubber coatings. They also sell a polyester webbing for reinforcing joints and corners and it is pretty cheap ($25 role would do a good size tank). I talked with our main rep for this stuff and I explained the fish tank application and he thinks it would work great. It is supposed to be puncture resistant and self sealing if punctured. The self sealing part I do not think will apply to a tank application as there is water pressure involved. I did however see a demonstration, where they had a small rubbermaid container that was coated on the inside with this Wetsuit product and they took an ice pick and put a hole in it and them filled it with water and it did not leak!
It comes in a 55g drum and 5 gallon bucket. The 5 gallon bucket is around $130 I think ($26 per gallon), don't quote me on that. I can actually get the company to sell it to me in 1 gallon amounts (we have a good relationship with them) but not sure on the exact pricing quite yet. I think it will be around $30/gallon. I am thinking 2-3 gallons and a role of webbing would do around a 500g size tank with a good thick coat. So around $90 - $120 plus shipping to waterproof a 500 gallon size tank. That is much cheaper then most of the alternatives I was pricing.
I think I am going to try this stuff on my build. I am not going to be doing my build for a few months at the soonest tho.
If anyone wants to try this stuff out, let me know and I will get it for you. I would like to see some people try it out. I think it will be the next big thing in home built plywood tanks.
It is non-toxic, extremely flexible (1600% elongation), can handle extreme temps, it is UV stable, highly puncture resistant, "self sealing" (still a bit skeptical of the extent of this), adheres very well to just about any surface (VERY good to plywood, I did a test myself), can be reinforced with seam fabric and it is easy to work with. The only down side it that it only comes in black.
I did allot of research on it and could go into more detail if anyone has any questions. I can also get solid pricing if anyone is interested.
I have been planning a large plywood tank and have been trying to figure out what kind of waterproofing liner I am going to use. I noticed people are liking the paint on rubber as it has does not have nasty fumes (like epoxy and fiberglass) and is easy to work with and works good for the application.
I found a product that is fairly new to the industry called Wetsuit.
Here is the cool part. The company's corporate office has a pond in the front of the property that is lined with this Wetsuit product.
It comes in 2 forms. One is what they call a one part, which is a paint able form. The other is called a 2 part which is a spray form. They use this spray form to create ponds. They actually just spray the stuff directly over the dirt! They can spay is to any mil thickness, generally 40 - 60mil.
I did some research on the product and was able to talk to the owner as we deal directly with him on roofing projects (as roofing is what this product was made for) and this type of liquid rubber is quite amazing. It is outperforming all the other liquid rubber type products as far as durability and waterproofing. It is priced about the same as the other liquid rubber products but sounds to be a bit more advanced and more ahead of the game. It is a neoprene based patented composition.
The one part would be perfect for making ply tanks. It has no nasty fumes and you just paint it on like the other rubber coatings. They also sell a polyester webbing for reinforcing joints and corners and it is pretty cheap ($25 role would do a good size tank). I talked with our main rep for this stuff and I explained the fish tank application and he thinks it would work great. It is supposed to be puncture resistant and self sealing if punctured. The self sealing part I do not think will apply to a tank application as there is water pressure involved. I did however see a demonstration, where they had a small rubbermaid container that was coated on the inside with this Wetsuit product and they took an ice pick and put a hole in it and them filled it with water and it did not leak!
It comes in a 55g drum and 5 gallon bucket. The 5 gallon bucket is around $130 I think ($26 per gallon), don't quote me on that. I can actually get the company to sell it to me in 1 gallon amounts (we have a good relationship with them) but not sure on the exact pricing quite yet. I think it will be around $30/gallon. I am thinking 2-3 gallons and a role of webbing would do around a 500g size tank with a good thick coat. So around $90 - $120 plus shipping to waterproof a 500 gallon size tank. That is much cheaper then most of the alternatives I was pricing.
I think I am going to try this stuff on my build. I am not going to be doing my build for a few months at the soonest tho.
If anyone wants to try this stuff out, let me know and I will get it for you. I would like to see some people try it out. I think it will be the next big thing in home built plywood tanks.
It is non-toxic, extremely flexible (1600% elongation), can handle extreme temps, it is UV stable, highly puncture resistant, "self sealing" (still a bit skeptical of the extent of this), adheres very well to just about any surface (VERY good to plywood, I did a test myself), can be reinforced with seam fabric and it is easy to work with. The only down side it that it only comes in black.
I did allot of research on it and could go into more detail if anyone has any questions. I can also get solid pricing if anyone is interested.
