Scuba Tank Racks

[Kern O]

Today's first project was actually on the boat, instead of the trailer. I needed to mount a rack system for 12 scuba tanks. There is a pretty slick rack system put out under the name "Roll Control" that has sections of track and brackets that you can put together to make whatever you need. The boat has coaming bolsters, and the mounting rail needs to hang below the bolsters. But it also had to be mounted inboard enough so that tanks will clear the bolsters, so I had to make "L" shaped brackets, so it could be moved inboard and downward from the bolsters..

So, here's one of the 8 blank brackets.



They were then mounted with through bolts to the back side of the coaming:






And here's what they look like when finished. The non-skid looks filthy because it still gets a lot of ash left over from the fires in Southern California. There's been no rain since the fires and the ash just blows around constantly. It hoses off easily, but it just re-appears in a couple days.

[welder]

Kern O , is that a piece of uni-strut that the tank brackets fit into and what secures the tanks in place , bungies, ratchet straps ?

Looks like a reel cool set up and quick to remove .

Lester

[Kern O]

And now a design change............

Because the racks will be in the middle of the prime fishing area, they need to be readily removable. Since the attaching screw heads are under the coaming bolsters, the best fix is to drill and tap 8 pieces of 1/4 plate and use them instead of hex nuts on the back side of the coaming. The pieces will serve as doublers and keep the screws in place. That way the racks can be attached with wing nuts and come right out.

[blueh20pc]

Originally Posted by welder

Kern O , is that a piece of uni-strut that the tank brackets fit into and what secures the tanks in place , bungies, ratchet straps ?

Looks like a reel cool set up and quick to remove .

Lester

Lester, the tank brackets are like a wishbone shape and the tank slides into them when you flip them up, I believe.

Neat setup.

[Kern O]

That's dead on. The track is an aluminum extrusion made by Roll Control to slide their brackets in. The brackets are easily adjustable to fit about any size tank. I've tried lots of different ways to rack up tanks and this seem to be the easiest. Another good system is to have a pocket that holds the base of the tank and a bungee system that holds around the valve.