DIY tank carrier

tiptop

Member
Nov 12, 2016
135
5
OH
A few months ago I bought a "Great White" from Joe B. at airtanksforsale.com. I didn't want to spend an extra $100 for their protector/carrier which looked to me like it was worth about $10. So I put one together from scraps laying around the workroom for $0. Yeah, it might look a bit ghetto but it's very stable and at least as protective as the $100 one. It can be laid on its side and when filling can be easily pulled out to inspect the dates, etc..
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Nice.

In the scuba diving world, you protect people and property from rolling tanks. Hard foam around tanks, for instance in you car (if not attached to your bcd already), and on the boats you stick the tanks in pvc pipes fastened to the boat and bungee chord the value to the railing. I don't know if carbon fiber tanks are babied more, they sure are precious.
 
Just a piece of carpet wrapped snug around and sandwiched between two 1x2 pieces of pine. On top of the wood base there is a smaller 3/4" thick wood disk screwed to the base and the bottom edge of the carpet is stapled into the edge of that. There's a piece of padding under the end of the tank. The little bungee at the top isn't really necessary but I use it to hold the end of the fill line and probe. I think there are a lot of low cost possibilities for protecting these tanks besides this one.
 
Here are my two DIY tank carriers. I made wooden cradles using dowels and scrap wood with cutouts for each tank's shape. The larger one costs $30 for the boot and carry strap. The smaller one costs $20. It is a 3 liter tank and is protected by a rifle sock folded back into two layers and has extra padding in the sock to protect the base from bumps and damage.