Since the weather was so miserable over the three-day weekend, I decided to spend a little time in the shop and start a new project. It will be a small 6500 gallon water tank for my branch line. I started with a PVC Schedule 40 coupling for 5” diameter PVC pipe. It is a little over 6” in diameter and about 7” long.
I cut it down to a 6” length and sanded off the mold line around the middle. I also sanded the entire outer surface to remove the sheen and give it a bit of “tooth.”
I cut enough scale 1” x 8” boards to cover the exterior. I also cut some 8” x 8” timbers and built up four bents to support the tank. The diagonal cross bracing is 2” x 8” boards. The floor joists are 4” x 10” timbers. I also cut enough 3” x 8” boards for the floor and roof. All wood is western red cedar.
Here is the tank support base.
Here are the floor joists and floor boards.
Unlike most of you I haven’t yet mastered the art of napkin drawing. I still use the old fashioned method of drawing the plans on the computer, printing them out full scale, and building right on the plans. Here is the plan for the floor joists. The violet areas are the tops of the bent caps.
Here is the bare tank on the base.
I started applying the tank boards to the PVC coupling with construction adhesive. I use a framing square to keep the boards perpendicular. I wipe down the boards with mineral spirits to remove any adhesive that seeps out between the boards.
This is a fun project and going together really fast. More to follow soon,
Bob