My wood tank build
- Thread starter dsandfort
- Start date
dsandfort
Premium Member
HELP ME!!! Can't.......stop.......fiberglassing.......HELP.
I got to thinking about years (hopefully) of water flowing over the tank weirs (hopefully) and the destructive forces of water and just had to add more figerglass. The actual weirs now have 4 layers of fiberglass and 15 coats of epoxy. I think that will last a while. I am now officially done with fiberglass and only need to drill and epoxy the bulkhead holes.
I got to thinking about years (hopefully) of water flowing over the tank weirs (hopefully) and the destructive forces of water and just had to add more figerglass. The actual weirs now have 4 layers of fiberglass and 15 coats of epoxy. I think that will last a while. I am now officially done with fiberglass and only need to drill and epoxy the bulkhead holes.
dsandfort
Premium Member
Well, it's actually about 30 mils deeper (about 0.03 inches taller water column). Can I add that to my posted volume? I figure we all need to include plumbing pipe volumes in our posts. Let's see...pie are squared, no, no, cornbread are squared, pie are round.
And by-the-way Mr. Oldsmobile, I gave up cold showers in the 70's. About the time I gave up, uh, quit, uh...got married.
And by-the-way Mr. Oldsmobile, I gave up cold showers in the 70's. About the time I gave up, uh, quit, uh...got married.
tank watch
In Memoriam
Wow! 15 coats of 'poxy ! how many gallons so far? What are your plans for glass? what kind? where? how much?
I unrolled my first piece of fiberglass today. I didnt wet it, I got scared.
I unrolled my first piece of fiberglass today. I didnt wet it, I got scared.
dsandfort
Premium Member
Only 15 coats on the weirs. 6 everywhere else inside and 3 outside. I finished off 5 gallons and will need another quart for incidentals.
You know, every time I see your location, all I can think of is shrimp po'boys. I'd trade you one for some figerglass work if I could.
Still planing low iron, just have not found it yet.
Remember on the first wet out, don't let the fiberglass float in the epoxy, sqeegee most of it out but make sure you get it all wet.
You know, every time I see your location, all I can think of is shrimp po'boys. I'd trade you one for some figerglass work if I could.
Still planing low iron, just have not found it yet.
Remember on the first wet out, don't let the fiberglass float in the epoxy, sqeegee most of it out but make sure you get it all wet.
Tigger240
New member
fiberglassing wasnt as hard as i thought it would be, i was excited to do it actually, but its not bad at all. i just did it for the first time 3 nights ago. i had a full face shield and air filter in one unit that came in real handy it was nice not smelling the resin crap or getting dust in my face. just have lots of gloves, mixing cups ( i just used 2 acutally, you can just switch them out if your using plastic cups ) mixing sticks and brushes on hand. and mix the resin correctly and throughly too. plastic bondo blades came in handy to squeegie the surface.
cbui2
Premium Member
great job on the fiberglass as seen in photos no air pockets, also noticed that you bought the thin woven materials, it's much harder to work with thicker materials but you don't have to lay a lot, coming out very nice dsandfort, i like it...also clean job makes it so easy to trim of the edges without having to sand a lot down..
Wow, 15 coats! You know, they sell kevlar cloth too at boat stores. You could use that and get a bullet proof tank, literally! :lol:
I think some people are overdoing the fiberglassing a little. It's good to be on the safe side. And I guess it can be justified when everything else in the system, including the livestock, is so expensive. But I just want to say that you don't have to make it that expensive if you don't want to. Just so that the cost won't scare away people from building tanks in this way.
Putting fiberglass on the outside is a good idea, not only for surface strength, it stiffens up the walls in a really great way.
I think some people are overdoing the fiberglassing a little. It's good to be on the safe side. And I guess it can be justified when everything else in the system, including the livestock, is so expensive. But I just want to say that you don't have to make it that expensive if you don't want to. Just so that the cost won't scare away people from building tanks in this way.
Putting fiberglass on the outside is a good idea, not only for surface strength, it stiffens up the walls in a really great way.
dsandfort
Premium Member
I think there might be some misunderstanding here. The 15 coats of epoxy and 4 layers of fiberglass is ONLY on the EDGE of the overflow. Exactly one half of one square FOOT. That's 0.5 square feet. I did it to retard "erosion" of this surface.
West System tech bulletin on tank building calls for 20 mil thickness or 5-6 coats of epoxy. The fiberglass serves multiple purposes. Strength is only one. It also helps prevent checking of the plywood veneer layer and adds abraision resistance in the event of a rock fall, etc. So, if one cares to follow the West System bulletin, 2 layers of fiberglass is an insignificant cost consideration relative to the cost of the epoxy which is going to be used regardless.
I would never steer anyone away from one of these builds because of fiberglass. There are other reasons that I might recommend another type of tank, but fiberglass is not one of them.
West System tech bulletin on tank building calls for 20 mil thickness or 5-6 coats of epoxy. The fiberglass serves multiple purposes. Strength is only one. It also helps prevent checking of the plywood veneer layer and adds abraision resistance in the event of a rock fall, etc. So, if one cares to follow the West System bulletin, 2 layers of fiberglass is an insignificant cost consideration relative to the cost of the epoxy which is going to be used regardless.
I would never steer anyone away from one of these builds because of fiberglass. There are other reasons that I might recommend another type of tank, but fiberglass is not one of them.
I agree,
Waterproofing can be done with minimal coats, but all it takes is a single rock to fall off your structure to poke a little hole through it to ruin countless hours of work and a good chunk of change.
Part of the problem is just knowing when you do drop that rock...that it didnt poke a hole.
Because you cannot check it after to make sure that it didnt.
Try it on a piece of wood with even 4-5 coats brushed on...then drop a jagged 2 lb rock on it.
I would ask, why would anyone do any less than what was done here ?
Outstanding craftsmanship Del.
Marc.
Waterproofing can be done with minimal coats, but all it takes is a single rock to fall off your structure to poke a little hole through it to ruin countless hours of work and a good chunk of change.
Part of the problem is just knowing when you do drop that rock...that it didnt poke a hole.
Because you cannot check it after to make sure that it didnt.
Try it on a piece of wood with even 4-5 coats brushed on...then drop a jagged 2 lb rock on it.
I would ask, why would anyone do any less than what was done here ?
Outstanding craftsmanship Del.
Marc.
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dsandfort
Premium Member
I think she'll hold water. All the fiberglass/epoxy is done and I cut the bulkhead holes today. I like what I see. Plenty of thickness on the water side.
I want plenty of redundancy so I came up with a double durso. If this is something already used, I'm not sure what it is called. If it's a new disign, well, let's call it a DDD, or D cubed (Del's Double Durso). There will be 3 of these so 6 total routes for overflow to the sump.
I want plenty of redundancy so I came up with a double durso. If this is something already used, I'm not sure what it is called. If it's a new disign, well, let's call it a DDD, or D cubed (Del's Double Durso). There will be 3 of these so 6 total routes for overflow to the sump.
dsandfort
Premium Member
A couple of other shots.
I've grown tired of stuff ending up in the sump and snails ending up in the impeller of pumps. My daughter found this stuff at a craft store. It's used by the needle craft crowd. Not sure what it's called but it has 5 squares per inch.
Next up is sealing the edges of the bulkhead holes. I needed 13 but installed 14. I did not want 13 holes in my tank.
I've grown tired of stuff ending up in the sump and snails ending up in the impeller of pumps. My daughter found this stuff at a craft store. It's used by the needle craft crowd. Not sure what it's called but it has 5 squares per inch.
Next up is sealing the edges of the bulkhead holes. I needed 13 but installed 14. I did not want 13 holes in my tank.
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