Steel tank boot alternatives?

[Jai Bar]

I am well aware of all the cons about having a boot, and I personally hate them.

However, it does protect the tank's bottom from scratching and damaging its coating at the bottom- even if I treat the tank with silk gloves most filling stations usually don't and eventually they end up being heavily scratched and corrosion begins. Also many tank holding racks on boats don't have any protection at the bottom etc.

So, I am looking for some other alternative that may help in keeping the tank's smooth bottom but without a boot.
I don't mind if the tank can't stand by itself, I just don't want its ass scratched

Any ideas? DIY projects?

 

[battles2a5]

Sell your Fabers/OMS and buy Worthington galvanized tanks

Else, you could put a coat of Rhino lining or some other truck bed protectorant on the bottom if you have to keep it from being chipped. I've seen a few people do that. Not crazy about the look but it works.

 

[Thadmn]

3M Undercoating. It drys and is flexible with a rough black finish, and it comes in spray cans. Its available at any auto body supply store.

 

[Rick Inman]

Anything you put over the original finish, any LDS that wants to VIS your tanks, may want to remove. They will want to see beneath your coating to see if you've covered any pitting or rust or damage to the tank's exterior - especially around the bottom where a boot might have been.

I don't like the boots either, and just live with a scratchy butt.

 

[ShagMan]

Echo Rick's statement, it'd be nice to spray a lining onto the bottom, but some dive shops will frown on it when it comes to vis time.

Also, as mentioned further up, just go with worthingtons, the galvanize will holdup better than paint

 

[widget]

Just "a wondering" whats your reason for the dislike of tank boots?

I always find its easier to work with a cylinder that stands upright and if the boot has good drainage there should also be no corrosion issues.

 

[beanojones]

Just "a wondering" whats your reason for the dislike of tank boots?

I always find its easier to work with a cylinder that stands upright and if the boot has good drainage there should also be no corrosion issues.

There is in fact no answer to this question. Someone said boots are bad at some point, and people just learned that way. People who have to deal with lots of tanks hate unbooted tanks for the reasons you mentioned.

It's kind of like why people blast air out of their tanks at the end of the dive onto their dust caps.

Or why DMs on the boat always turn your air partway off before you jump in the water.

People get used to doing things a certain way, and that's the way they do it.

 

[John_B]

The boots I really hate are the ones with little fins on them, I guess they are there to help stabilize the tank when standing it up but they can cause more harm than good.

 

[widget]

It's kind of like why people blast air out of their tanks at the end of the dive onto their dust caps.

Haa,Haa, yeah, another diving enigma. Never could quite understand that one.

 

[Jai Bar]

Just "a wondering" whats your reason for the dislike of tank boots?

I always find its easier to work with a cylinder that stands upright and if the boot has good drainage there should also be no corrosion issues.

I had corrosion issues with my boot. Once in a while I used to struggle and pull it out in order to clean beneath. But it is not that easy to pull the boot, and I used to dive late at nights, I got lazy, neglected the boot-removal ceremony... and got punished. Corrosion. Darn Fabers

Then I decided to enlarge the little hole in the bottom. It worked, but every time I put the tank on the beach, the combination of sand with little pebbles started to grind the color from the tank's bottom. Punished. Corrosion, again.

Then I also discovered a "corrosion ring" near the upper side of the boot, not the bottom where the hole is located. So the hole apparently drained most of the boot, but not enough.

For me it looks like the boot only masks potential problems, speeds up corrosion and is much better without it. For the air filling station, I guess it is easier with the boot.

I dove a few times with tanks that looked like Aluminium but were steel- probably Worthingtons? I fell in love with them from first sight.
However, nobody imports them to my location (Israel), not sure why- perhaps because of too much hassle with regulatory and importing license etc etc. Shame.