Tank Colors

[danielh03]

Hey guys, I see all these different colors on tanks, like candy red or neon yellow.... My question is how long do those types of finishes last, and how much more of a cost do you see on average?

[Black-Gorrilla]

cost is about the same.
i have a really nice, smoke color tank (shiny and sparkly) and it has a weird hue to it!
well, from the first day i went out diving, it started to get scratched against my brothers tanks and all of our gears.

[loudgonzo]

I have a nice shiny black tank with 2 stickers that I've yet to use, can't seem to get away from work or the house. But I don't expect it to be nice and shiny after the first use, hopefully next weekend.

[JahJahwarrior]

If by "last" you mean remain in perfect, factory condition, the answer is one, maybe two dives. If you baby them, they might look good for 4 or 5 dives, but eventually they'll hit something and scratch. If by "last" you mean how long will there be remnants of the paintjob on the tank, well it'll be there for all of time, but only in the areas where it can't hit things and get scratched off

If you want coloured tanks, then go for it! There's really no cost difference, and there isn't much of a problem with them, other than the fact that they do look worse over time than unpainted tanks, because they get scratched and look like they have a bad case of mange. If you dive saltwater, rinse them well after every dive, make sure that no salt water gets stuck under flaking paint, where it can corrode the tank faster. As long as you rinse the tanks, it shouldn't be a problem.

[ian]

Originally Posted by JahJahwarrior

If by "last" you mean remain in perfect, factory condition, the answer is one, maybe two dives. If you baby them, they might look good for 4 or 5 dives, but eventually they'll hit something and scratch. If by "last" you mean how long will there be remnants of the paintjob on the tank, well it'll be there for all of time, but only in the areas where it can't hit things and get scratched off

Yep!


I got an AL80 with a clear blue plastic wrapper around it. It looked really nice in the shop.

After a few dives, it had some good diongs and scratches. I've noticed that the aluminum in and around the scratches and dings is getting that wonderful salt water oxidized aluminum look.

I may have to resaort to some serious elbow grease to remove the pretty coating.

On the bright side: lesson learned...never again...

Ian

[Charlotte Smith]

I have a clear coated al 63 and a clear coated al80 and they still look great, the colors are really pretty at first, but tend to start getting ugly after a few dives....

[Capt Hook]

Yeah, same here, my wife has a yellow 63cf that looks kind of funky after 8 yrs.

[JahJahwarrior]

And another problem is you cannot remove the paint very easily. If you do anything that will physically remove metal, like sanding it, you will be required by law to have it rehydrotested, and many places will fail it autmoatically, they get pretty touchy about it.

Also, the manufacturer sometimes sands tanks that are a little thick on one side, then slaps a coat of paint on them and off they go. So if you strip the paint chemically, you may find that your tank was sanded by Luxfer or Catalina or whomever, and you probably can't prove to the hydrotester that you didn't sand it, so you'll have to put up with alot of bullcrap in order to get it hydroed, potentially, even if you use chemical paint removers.

Lastly, you can always repaint it, but many places will also refuse to fill or hydro a repainted tank, because many paints require heat curing, and that will damage a tank, and they don't know if you heat cured it or not. Also, it'll just get dinged up again.

My advice: get the ones that have no coating whatsoever, but not the shotblast ones, but the ones that have lines around the circumference of the cylinder. Otherwise, get shot blast. If you can't get that, then get clearcoat. If you can't get that, get yellow, an dif you can't get that then start freediving instead


The "tank wraps" that are like mesh, they don't work. Rather, they work in your car and whatnot, but sometimes let the tank slip out of your BC, some pepole say. So many people put them on after every dive, to protect the tank in the car and in storage....but you'll still ding it sometime. Why go through all the trouble? just get a tank without a coating!

[mike_s]

Originally Posted by JahJahwarrior

And another problem is you cannot remove the paint very easily.

stripping tanks is easy. you just gotta know the easy way to do it.

Also, the manufacturer sometimes sands tanks that are a little thick on one side, then slaps a coat of paint on them and off they go. So if you strip the paint chemically, you may find that your tank was sanded by Luxfer or Catalina or whomever, and you probably can't prove to the hydrotester that you didn't sand it, so you'll have to put up with alot of bullcrap in order to get it hydroed, potentially, even if you use chemical paint removers.

Never heard that, but maybe it's true. I have had some weird swirl marks on a stripped tank.

.

My advice: get the ones that have no coating whatsoever, but not the shotblast ones, but the ones that have lines around the circumference of the cylinder. Otherwise, get shot blast.

You can get them galvanized hot dipped. that's the best finish to get for longevity. doesn't look the prettiest, but will last longer.

[JahJahwarrior]

Originally Posted by mike_s

stripping tanks is easy. you just gotta know the easy way to do it.


You can get them galvanized hot dipped. that's the best finish to get for longevity. doesn't look the prettiest, but will last longer.

You are correct on both counts, stripping is easy, most people run into trouble after that, but not all. You can avoid the trouble if you are willing to take your time and be careful. I also personally like the suggestion of hot dip galvanizing, I hadn't thought of that, and I think it would work great.

Here is what Luxfer says about repainting:
Luxfer Technical Bulletin on repainting 6061 alloy tanks

They actually reccomend soft media blasting to remove paint, rather than paint strippers, as best as I can tell.