Any SCUBA Divers out there have a creative design to hold tanks?

Fellow Taco drivers and divers,

I wanted to see if anyone has a great design or build they'd be willing to share with the Forum on how to effectively transport SCUBA tanks in their truck bed. I've seen several options down here in Florida, but wanted to open it up for discussion. Most of the racks/holders I've seen are either:

1. Plywood cut-outs (more permanent, but more bulky)
2. PVC or styrofoam connected with rope (Cheap, but effective)
3. Wrap-strapped (most temporary, most)
4. Permanent rail-mounted brackets (permanent and secure, but expensive)

Who's got the best idea? Thinking something that could work with the Toyota bed rack would be most optimal.

 

It's a pain in the ass just let it ride shotgun

 

Ha. That would be sweet..but tough to shotgun 6 tanks or more along with the other divers and gear.

 

I like e-track. Not a diver, but e-track is the best tie down system I've used. Ratchet straps that clip in + e-track = hard to beat.

 

@otis24

 

My answer for my Subaru outback is to just dive doubles. Those don't move around

 

Whatever you do make sure your tanks are secure. I avoid carrying them in the cab altogether. If you crash and they're unsecured in the cab they're going to kill you. Or at least cause a lot of damage to the inside of your truck.

Just take up rebreather diving and leave those 6 tanks at home...just kidding.

I've had two sleeping platforms for my truck that I can store the tanks underneath and put my gear on top. The first one used D rings I bolted to the bed and was pretty basic.

The second version has drawers that the tanks can fit into. I used foam blacks to seperate the tanks. The drawers slide on UHMW plastic strips.

The third version uses drawers but the body of the platform is made out of 1" Aluminum tube and sheet metal and held together by 400something rivets. I'm going to build a new drawer out of the same tube and shee tmetal maybe later this year. The bottoms of the drawers and the bottom of the platform will be UHMW sheets so they should glide on each other nicely.

I'll post pics when I get home later tonight.

 

@otis24... Thanks for the post...send pics when you can. I like the idea of securing them and also having a place for the rest of the gear, that's NOT/NOT inside the cab! Most of the diving I do is to spearfish from my boat.

Ha, re-breathing is a bit out of the scope of what I wanna do...plus the cost, yeesh.

 

I'd love to do tech diving but too much cost. Re-breather is waaaay out of the price bracket.

I also have a shell on my truck which makes carrying gear a bit easier.

Can you stow the tanks in/on your boat when you travel?

 

I have a suction rack that works great on the boat...not permanent, since I also fish and take the wife and kiddos out to snorkel, sun and swim. But the boat is dry stored at a marina, so I would still need to get them there. Otherwise, easy problem to solve

 

Ah, that makes sense.

I'll get those pics up later today.

Have you ever had a chance to dive in Northern California?

 

Maybe look into quick fists along the bed rail tracks

 

how many tanks do you need to transport at a time, and how much money do you want to spend. the easy, extremely secure, but kind of pricey way to do it (depending on how many tanks), is to buy some power tank brackets and bolt them to your bed.
I have a 20lb CO2 tank hanging in the bracket from my bed cage, and it hasn't even budged with any of the hard hits the truck has taken off road. it also takes a standard pad lock, so no one is going to be able to steal your tanks.

 

we used to line them up in the bed laying down, and just use a ratchet strap to hold them in place. ive also seen guys take a couple of 2x4's and cut a few "U" shapes out that match the contour of the tank and do a ratchet over that to hold them in place.

 

Out of curiosity where are you on the West Coast? We do a ton of tech diving up here in Seattle and, apart from good training, the cost is minimal. Our Helium cost is less than $1/cf.

 

In my build page.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/docs-taco-build.401846/page-4#post-12461714

 

Man...those are sweet! 6 is about as many as I would need and typically no fewer than 3.

I like the ability to secure them with a pad lock. Think you'd be able to mount them to the rails system or would it need to be a permanent bolt to the bed?

 

very easily mounted to the bed rails with some t-slot nuts. just drill some new holes to mount them at the exact height you need them to be.



the contour of the mount that actually touches the tank is offset enough that a bolt head will easily clear the tank once you mount it to the bed rails

 

I like how you have the tanks in front of the axle. If I didn't have the camper shell on I'd go this route.

I found this pic in my build thread. This was before I built the driver side drawer...which I ended up not liking and turned into a campfire anyway.

 

Here you go @Geeterman
like I said, a little pricey if you want 6, but definitely an easy and secure way to do it.

Power Tank BKT-2260 Aluminum 10 lb/15 lb. CO2 Tank Super Bracket

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Tank-B...1487178784&sr=8-3&keywords=power+tank+bracket