Tank Rack for Truck or SUV

[skdvr]

I just thought that I would share this beause everyone seemed to love it this past weekend. I thought that someone could get some use out of it.

This is a tank rack that will hold 6 tanks (3 stacks of 2) and very securely.

It is made from 1.25" schedule 40 PVC pipe. The 3-way and 4-way corners I got from www.usplastic.com You can find them at several places on line but they were the cheapest that I found.

Here is a list of parts.

Long Spans - 24" (9)
Short Spans - 6" (12)
Vertical Spans - 10" (8)
3-way corners - (4)
4-way corners - (8)
T fittings - (6)

all of the joints are glued. This thing is very sturdy. I could use it for a ladder if I wanted to. When I put tanks on the top I use a cargo strap to make sure that they stay there when I am in the car just incase of an accident.

I usually tank the rack on my boat with me and sometime I stap down the top tanks and sometime I do not. Even when the water is very rough the rack does not even come close to tipping over. We did have one tip over on us last weekend that was in someone elses boat but they only had tanks on the top and the water got very rough. The rack fell over about 45* and was leaning on a rubbermaid tub. The top tanks were straped down and did not even budge. They stayed right were they are supposed to.

I hope you can enjoy....

Phil

[Jaymeany]

PVC is the building material of the gods!!!!

[NitroWill]

Originally Posted by Jaymeany

PVC is the building material of the gods!!!!

That and duct tape

Looks nice!

[Xspect]

Please post pics of the assembly and final pics

[Centerius]

I made my own tank stabilizer yesterday.

PVC Pipe and bungee (make the length of the bungee between the pipes slightly shorter than the width of the tanks). Then I added foam tape on top of the PVC pipes.

[Centerius]

Originally Posted by Xspect

Please post pics of the assembly and final pics

Put glue on the inside of the joint fittings, insert the pipes, let glue dry. You're done.

(Correct me if I messed up somewhere.)

[skdvr]

Originally Posted by Centerius

I made my own tank stabilizer yesterday.

PVC Pipe and bungee (make the length of the bungee between the pipes slightly shorter than the width of the tanks). Then I added foam tape on top of the PVC pipes.

I also have the same sort of thing that I made out of swim noodles that I use when I take the car. I think that the next time I make one like that I will do it like yours with the PVC pipe. Although my swim noodle model has lasted a while with no signs of tearing.

[skdvr]

Originally Posted by Centerius

Put glue on the inside of the joint fittings, insert the pipes, let glue dry. You're done.

(Correct me if I messed up somewhere.)

That is correct. I do not have any pics of the assembly. I would just put one pipe in a fitting with a little PVC primer and PVC glue and then put the next fitting on the end of that pipe. Then I would just put that piece on the ground with the fitting touching the ground so I could make sure that they were straight with each other. It is really quite simple once you get going. You can come up with your own pattern of putting it together.

Phil

[Jaymeany]

Dry fit first and mark the pieces with a sharpie. just a tip. I use pvc to makes racks for coral frags that I sell from my fish tank. I am going to make a new thread on building materials in gods tool box!

[skdvr]

Originally Posted by Jaymeany

Dry fit first and mark the pieces with a sharpie. just a tip. I use pvc to makes racks for coral frags that I sell from my fish tank. I am going to make a new thread on building materials in gods tool box!

I did not dry fit mine. Although you certainly can do that first. Lets say I started with a bottom long span. I would just glue one of the 4-way corners on it any way that I could. Then I would take another 4-way corner and line it up with the previous one on the opposite end of the long span so that they would be facing the same way. Then just put glue on the inside of the corner and the outside of the pipe then push them together. After it was all the way on I would then pu tthe bottom (feet) of the 4-way corner on the ground and make sure that both feet were sitting flat on the gound. It usually took a little twist to make them both sit flat and that was that. Now you do have to do it quickly because that glue starts working RIGHT AWAY. I put two of these together with no problems. If you feel safer marking everything first by all means mark it. What ever it takes to make it correct.

Just as a note that I should have put in my first post. Afer you cut all the pieces to the correct length I would take a small piece of sand paper and smooth off the edges so that when you are glueing you do not have a bunch of little plastic pieces in teh way and making a mess...

Phil