Painting Tanks?

[Eric Sedletzky]

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Alright, some basic paint stripper and some sandpaper got the job done. There is still some oxidation (??) or wearing where the original paint had chipped off before I stripped the rest. Will the remaining tank surface eventually oxidize as well? Just curious.

Also looked into polishing, but that seems to require tools, bouffant and other things I don't really want to buy.


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Yes, the rest of the tank will form a "patina", kind of a dull grey look, but that's as bad as they get.
However now that you've stripped all the paint off, the metal can breathe and dry out. All you have to do is rinse the tank after diving and you'll be good to go. You could scrub the tanks with alumiprep 33 if you wanted to dissolve the white rust out of the micro pits if you want but the patina will reform in time. The only way to keep the shine is polishing if you want that look, but if you don't care then just run them.
Look at aluminum backplates, they don't corrode to nothing. The only time aluminum runs into problems is when it's covered up then get's salt underneath the layer. Powder coating is notorious for being a corrosion trap on aluminum.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Look at aluminum backplates, they don't corrode to nothing. The only time aluminum runs into problems is when it's covered up then get's salt underneath the layer. Powder coating is notorious for being a corrosion trap on aluminum.

And or if you manage to build a battery, i.e. dissimilar metals + electrolyte (salt water)

Classically the stainless fasteners used to secure a STA to a Aluminum plate.

When divers leave their wing bolted to their aluminum backplate via a STA pretty much the worst of all possible conditions exist, dissimilar metals + a nice wetting source of electrolyte.

Pretty much every Rebreather with an aluminum back plane and bolted on harness / wing has left pile of white powder on my work bench when I've torn it down.

Tobin

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

And or if you manage to build a battery, i.e. dissimilar metals + electrolyte (salt water)

Classically the stainless fasteners used to secure a STA to a Aluminum plate.

When divers leave their wing bolted to their aluminum backplate via a STA pretty much the worst of all possible conditions exist, dissimilar metals + a nice wetting source of electrolyte.

Pretty much every Rebreather with an aluminum back plane and bolted on harness / wing has left pile of white powder on my work bench when I've torn it down.

Tobin

Well yeah, then there's the dissimilar metals issue. But when I mentioned aluminum plates I wasn't thinking STA, I was thinking the plate on it's own.
Just to give you an idea of how bad I've seen white rust. I remember pulling a leaky aluminum fuel tank out of a boat that was glassed into the floor. Where ever there was a stainless screw even nearby in any of the surrounding structure there was a white halo on the aluminum.
I've seen aluminum masts so bad in spots where any stainless came in contact combined with salt that I've had to dig out/clean the pits and add a bunch of aluminum with a welder. All the ones that had several cover up paint jobs on them were the worst. The anodized ones seem to hold up the best, except for where any stainless came in contact....but stainless is a necessary evil.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Well yeah, then there's the dissimilar metals issue. But when I mentioned aluminum plates I wasn't thinking STA, I was thinking the plate on it's own.
Just to give you an idea of how bad I've seen white rust. I remember pulling a leaky aluminum fuel tank out of a boat that was glassed into the floor. Where ever there was a stainless screw even nearby in any of the surrounding structure there was a white halo on the aluminum.
I've seen aluminum masts so bad in spots where any stainless came in contact combined with salt that I've had to dig out/clean the pits and add a bunch of aluminum with a welder. All the ones that had several cover up paint jobs on them were the worst. The anodized ones seem to hold up the best, except for where any stainless came in contact....but stainless is a necessary evil.

Boat + saltwater = giant battery.

Tobin