How do you transport your tanks?

[Bent Benny]

I have 5 AL80's that I tend to carry around in the back of my truck. I usually just leave them there because they get used often so it's easier than carrying them somewhere else just to haul them back out again.

My problem is keeping them back there in a way that they are stable and don't move around. I have seen some tank rails and such online but they are all fairy expensive so I would like to stay away from anything like this.

Can someone give me some advice to make a DIY tank transporter? The best I have come up with so far would be to fasten some PVC pipes to the plastic bed liner in my truck to make little slots for the tanks to lay in, but with all 5 tanks laying down it would take up a good portion of my bed.

If anyone has made something like this I would really appreciate if you would share what you made.

Thanks all

 

[Bowers]

pool noodles spaced out and tied with rope create a perfect bedding for tanks that wont allow them to roll or clank.

this is one is from a quick google search but you can easily custimize your own.

 

[chrisch]

Buy a ratchet strap. Trucks usually have attachment points, my station wagon does. A bit of cardboard stops them clunking together.

 

[Storker]

pool noodles spaced out and tied with rope create a perfect bedding for tanks that wont allow them to roll or clank.View attachment 481701this is one is from a quick google search but you can easily custimize your own.

Pieces of round wood rods - about the diameter of a broomstick - can be substituted for the pool noodles. The whole thing looks quite a bit like a rope ladder and takes up less space in storage.

If my tanks are in my car's trunk, that's basically all I use since usually there's quite a bit of stuff stacked on top of the tanks; if I load them on a pickup bed or a trailer bed, I like to strap them down as well. And the tanks are always loaded with the bottom facing forward, against some kind of backstop.

 

[hilljo88]

Pool noodles. I haven’t tied them together but kind of wedge everything in and they don’t seem to move

 

[JackD342]

That photo is an item that the dive accessory companies sell, usually in two or three tank versions. There are also similar items made with PVC instead of foam. There are rubber rings (like giant o-rings) added to the PVC versions, so the cylinders don’t slide out of the channels when room in the vehicle permits. You can make your own of either.

I have used both - the noodles take up a bit more space when not in use, if that matters. The rubber rings on the PVC eventually snap and need replacement.

 

[JackD342]

I also have a 6 tank lay down rack in the van made from 2x4s. 7 parallel lengths, sandwiched between two lengths at each end, top and bottom.

 

[207diver]

This is how I keep 4 tanks from moving around in the back of my car. They sit low so there is plenty of space for gear totes on top.

 

[gcarter]

l

 

[shoredivr]

lView attachment 487262

Mine looks like this only made of wood.