4300 Gallon Plywood Build (3600+ Take 2)
- Thread starter nolapete
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Congratulations Pete,
Living in a WIIFM society it is becoming increasingly rare these days to find someone that will support their partner's hobbies without strings attached. Through all the bumps and bruises building my 240 my wife was behind me all the way. Now she sits in the living room and enjoys the finished product, as do I. (planning the next one)
Best wishes to both of you, and hope you get that pin sized headache found and taken care of.
Living in a WIIFM society it is becoming increasingly rare these days to find someone that will support their partner's hobbies without strings attached. Through all the bumps and bruises building my 240 my wife was behind me all the way. Now she sits in the living room and enjoys the finished product, as do I. (planning the next one)
Best wishes to both of you, and hope you get that pin sized headache found and taken care of.
That is so cool! I'm so happy for you! 
So, I read through all of this thread last night and the night before. Several things I've wanted to say throughout the thread, but I wanted to hold everything until I was done reading. I hate people who ask before they've even taken the time to see if their question has already been answered...as if the thread owner owes them an answer just because they're lazy.
First off, congrats on the engagement! Second, very nice design of the tank structure. Third, I bow to your ambition on this build. Fourth, if this next application of LR doesn't stop the leak (and I certainly hope it does!), have you considered investing it the spray mechanism you've talked about and applying one or two good layers to make sure everything is evenly spread?
For the record, I believe what's going on here is similar to what happened on the other gentleman's tank that was also using LR: it was pushing out through a seam under pressure. In your tank's case, you mentioned earlier that the liquid nails didn't fill the space between the lumber like you expected. Is it possible that the LR is pushing out into these open seams far enough to expose a patch that didn't get coated with a thick enough layer? If there was even a small pinhole in a patch that was too thin, being stretched like that would conceivably open it up for leaking (similar to having a pin-hole in a balloon...it would be invisible until it was stretched via air pressure, then it opens wide and lets the air escape.
Unfortunately, if it is the case, the only ways of finding it that I can think of are:
1) to fill it completely up actually hoping that the added pressure opens the hole large enough to see.
2) to use a dye in the water to make it easier to see and follow the wetness. Once you find out where it's emerging from the backside of the plywood, you'll have to move to the interior and start removing LR since it's probably leaking through the liner in a different place than it's leaking from the plywood.
Of course, you could simply resign yourself to not finding it and simply fixing it by applying layer after layer of LR over the entire tank and hope it becomes thick enough to both cover the pinhole and allow it to stretch into the cracks without pulling open.
I'm sorry you're experiencing the leak though. I can only imagine how frustrating it is...not only because it's the only thing remaining that's stopping you from finishing this project, but also because you're hoping to prove the LR itself.
Best of luck to you for the rest of this build!
First off, congrats on the engagement! Second, very nice design of the tank structure. Third, I bow to your ambition on this build. Fourth, if this next application of LR doesn't stop the leak (and I certainly hope it does!), have you considered investing it the spray mechanism you've talked about and applying one or two good layers to make sure everything is evenly spread?
For the record, I believe what's going on here is similar to what happened on the other gentleman's tank that was also using LR: it was pushing out through a seam under pressure. In your tank's case, you mentioned earlier that the liquid nails didn't fill the space between the lumber like you expected. Is it possible that the LR is pushing out into these open seams far enough to expose a patch that didn't get coated with a thick enough layer? If there was even a small pinhole in a patch that was too thin, being stretched like that would conceivably open it up for leaking (similar to having a pin-hole in a balloon...it would be invisible until it was stretched via air pressure, then it opens wide and lets the air escape.
Unfortunately, if it is the case, the only ways of finding it that I can think of are:
1) to fill it completely up actually hoping that the added pressure opens the hole large enough to see.
2) to use a dye in the water to make it easier to see and follow the wetness. Once you find out where it's emerging from the backside of the plywood, you'll have to move to the interior and start removing LR since it's probably leaking through the liner in a different place than it's leaking from the plywood.
Of course, you could simply resign yourself to not finding it and simply fixing it by applying layer after layer of LR over the entire tank and hope it becomes thick enough to both cover the pinhole and allow it to stretch into the cracks without pulling open.
I'm sorry you're experiencing the leak though. I can only imagine how frustrating it is...not only because it's the only thing remaining that's stopping you from finishing this project, but also because you're hoping to prove the LR itself.
Best of luck to you for the rest of this build!
Pete,
I know that you're attached to the idea of the PC (and the engineer in me appreciates that/wants to see it work), but have you reconsidered throwing in a liner? Is there no looking back from the PC?*
*Just a sincere inquiry. Not meant to ruffle any feathers. If you say, "Pond Coat til I die!" then that's cool. Just curious.
I know that you're attached to the idea of the PC (and the engineer in me appreciates that/wants to see it work), but have you reconsidered throwing in a liner? Is there no looking back from the PC?*
*Just a sincere inquiry. Not meant to ruffle any feathers. If you say, "Pond Coat til I die!" then that's cool. Just curious.
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