Shipping tanks

[Fridaddy]

HI everyone.

I am not a diver, I play paintball, I am dating a diver and she suggested I ask this here. We use simular gear in the form of high pressure air tanks and regulators. In fact our tanks are hydroed at SCUBA shops.

There is a upcoming big game and some of the players attending are flying in. I know the TSA regs on flying with tanks are fairly strict on removing the regs/valves and making sure any batteries are removed. So most of the players are having their gear shipped via common carrier.(UPS, FedEx, USPS)

For anyone who has shipped tanks can you give me any tips such as best carrier, packaging, how long it takes, and so on?

And if you have any paintball questions...fire away.

Fridaddy

 

[Bob3]

I like FedEx, they're way cheaper than UPS or USPS, faster, and less brutal.
Ship the bottles empty or they'll nab you about $25 or so in hazmat fees on top of the shipping cost.

 

[Hoosier]

al 80 cf is about 36lb. It is around $15 in UPS. You can quote the price at UPS.com

 

[Fly N Dive]

yea, but paintball tanks aren't al, most likely carbon-fiber so they're a LOT lighter. so it would be cheaper still.

 

[Don Burke]

I shipped four cylinders with Airborne Ground through an outfit called Unishippers.

http://www.unishippers.com/

Airborne hit me with a surcharge for the cylinders being, well, cylinders. It was something like ten dollars per cylinder and was a substantial portion of the total. I expect other carriers do that too.

Boxing them up would have saved me quite a bit. I now keep a couple of cylinder boxes stashed away just in case something like this comes up again.