I need a new setup for cleaning SCUBA equipment to install in my garage for a drysuit and 2 sets of doubles, and I wonder what sorts of great DIY ideas people came up with. I used to have a low-tech solution that involves a pair of Husky "X-Workhorse" workbenches to rest my tanks on, crammed inside a rectangular shower cabin, alongside my drysuit, and that was usable, although not exceedingly convenient (shown below with sidemount tanks). I had to stand there, and water my equipment. I can't bother.
After moving to a new place, I no longer even have a shower cabin I can dedicate entirely to that purpose, but plenty of garage space, and I don't feel like building a big, clunky shower cabin in my garage, so I'm looking at improvising something entirely from scratch...
...besides, unlike the low-tech solution below, this time, I'd like to make it somewhat more lightweight, semi-mobile, and much more convenient and automated, as in: unload all my junk from the trunk, press a big green button, leave and forget... similar to starting my laundry machine (complete with the cheesy music once it's done).
I can imagine ways to do it, but I'm not sure how practical they will turn out to be, and I don't like to reinvent the wheel, so I'm curious if anyone else has any proven ideas they are willing to share, or any suggestions for what might work (or not).
The structural part seems the hardest. On one hand, I need a structure solid enough to support the weight of all the tanks, and that can serve as a frame to install other fixtures on (some parts of a sprinkler system, or whatever it is that I'll use to make the damned thing clean itself). A ready-made shower cabin seems inconvenient (heavy, clunky, ugly, weird-shaped, with no easy ways to attach things to it). A cage made from thick wooden beams would seem like a cheap, quick, and easy way to accomplish that (light, mobile, infinitely extensible). On the other hand, something has to trap water inside, and collect it at the bottom, and as I understand, the problem with wood is that it expands and shrinks as it meets water, so it's going to be hard to seal the empty sides of a wooden cage in places where it contacts other materials. A low-tech solution to trapping water might be to wrap around the entire cage with some soft plastic, like a shower curtain, and embed it inside a solid industrial-sized plastic tub that can support all the weight (where do you get those things), or alternatively, to line it with plastic from the inside, and suspend all equipment, including the tanks, within it, hanging from the above, thus eliminating the need for a fancy tub (any cheap plastic container would do, as it would not need to support any weight anymore).
I suspect someone with a bit of experience in construction can imagine some easier and more straightforward approaches... any ideas? Thanks!
After moving to a new place, I no longer even have a shower cabin I can dedicate entirely to that purpose, but plenty of garage space, and I don't feel like building a big, clunky shower cabin in my garage, so I'm looking at improvising something entirely from scratch...
...besides, unlike the low-tech solution below, this time, I'd like to make it somewhat more lightweight, semi-mobile, and much more convenient and automated, as in: unload all my junk from the trunk, press a big green button, leave and forget... similar to starting my laundry machine (complete with the cheesy music once it's done).
I can imagine ways to do it, but I'm not sure how practical they will turn out to be, and I don't like to reinvent the wheel, so I'm curious if anyone else has any proven ideas they are willing to share, or any suggestions for what might work (or not).
The structural part seems the hardest. On one hand, I need a structure solid enough to support the weight of all the tanks, and that can serve as a frame to install other fixtures on (some parts of a sprinkler system, or whatever it is that I'll use to make the damned thing clean itself). A ready-made shower cabin seems inconvenient (heavy, clunky, ugly, weird-shaped, with no easy ways to attach things to it). A cage made from thick wooden beams would seem like a cheap, quick, and easy way to accomplish that (light, mobile, infinitely extensible). On the other hand, something has to trap water inside, and collect it at the bottom, and as I understand, the problem with wood is that it expands and shrinks as it meets water, so it's going to be hard to seal the empty sides of a wooden cage in places where it contacts other materials. A low-tech solution to trapping water might be to wrap around the entire cage with some soft plastic, like a shower curtain, and embed it inside a solid industrial-sized plastic tub that can support all the weight (where do you get those things), or alternatively, to line it with plastic from the inside, and suspend all equipment, including the tanks, within it, hanging from the above, thus eliminating the need for a fancy tub (any cheap plastic container would do, as it would not need to support any weight anymore).
I suspect someone with a bit of experience in construction can imagine some easier and more straightforward approaches... any ideas? Thanks!
