My newest brainstorm....

I have about 400 gallon water tanks/trailers for watering the horses. Ritual is usually to have a floater that stays full and swap it out with an empty one real PITA alone cause the horses are slick when they see the gate open to the pasture and I ain't as quick as I used to be. Also have a couple that are in tight spots and hard to get in and out, especially when wet or snow/icey. Wife found this 800 gal tank and old army trailer on ebay and got it. It set all winter til I drug it out yesterday. Idea is to park all trailers withing 60ft of access roads (no problem) and use this tank to refill the others. My sophisticated transfer system. Is/will be a 2'x2 1/2' pallet setting across the tongue with a 2.5kw generator strapped on and all strapped to the tongue, then a 20 buck sump pump with about 80' of hose. Works like a charm and can fill two tanks with one trip at about 25 minutes each. Got less than 500 bucks tied up in the whole kit and kaboodle. If anyone can tell me how to treat/preserve the fiberglass tank a little I'd appreciate it. Need to slop some paint on the trailer and swap the stationary foot for a crank wheel one of these days.

Dave

I use a similar setup; a 600 gal tank on trailer, but gravity flow thru 2 inch PVC. We don't have our ponds freeze here often, so I only use it for a couple weeks each winter. I put my stock tanks next to the fence, and drive up along side, and have 2 8 foot section and a 90 degree fitting, just slide them together, run through the fence, turn the valve, never have to fight the cattle.

i got sort of the same trailer/tank water system going what ive done is arange all the horse pen water troughs so that i can reach them thru the fence, then i hook my trailer and drive around to the pens its gravity feed system, so it doesnt freeze and bust a shut off valve, to stop the flow out of the tank i just throw the 2 inch flexible hose over the top of the tank, once i reach a pen i just shove the hose thru and fill the tank, saves chasing smart horses who have figured out how to escape, in my experience smart cattle are even worse and run in groups

Gravity feed won't work for me, the tanks are as tall as this one and a couple of them are uphill. Original idea was a motorpump but they are expensive here and Couldn't get one shipped from the States reasonably. Then had a Shazam moment when I was thinking about the sump pump I have and the generator. Extra cost was the 80' of 1" flex hose.

dave, heres my sooper dooper home made waterin rig. 1000 gal tank, 3500 watt generator and a jet pump. works good for watering/spraying fruit trees, remote pressure washing, and i have a 2 inch trash pump with a fire hose in case something gets out of hand.

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Don't think my wittle twactor would handle a thousand gallons on anything other than a golf course :roll:

Was really worrying about a pump and just tried the sump pump with a 20ft hose and ran it straight up. still pumped fast enough so got a longer hose. If I burn out the pump I can replace it for 15 bucks and it is still portable. Can also sneak water out of the creek if I don't get caught.

Dave

The first thing I think of to preserve a fiberglass tank would be
marine paint used on fiberglass boats. It takes a lot of prep work
and will eventually fade but it will protect the glass from the suns
rays.

As far as the horses getting out when you open the gate, we finally had to put in a further length of fence inside the gate, with another gate (think of the locks in the Panama Canal)- open the outer gate, drive in, close outer gate and open inner gate, drive into the field.

You could just see those guys thinking, "Hey! Wait a minute! What's up with that?"

Regular primer paint will work well.

I wonder if you sprayed the tank with spray-on bedliner like they use in pickup beds if it would be a good preservative. You can get it in different colors so you wouldn't have to paint it black if you didn't want to. My son-in-law just painted the hard top on his cj-7 jeep with bedliner and it looks great, his hardtop is fiberglass. Something to think about!!

Thanks. Doesn't have to be pretty, just want to keep it from drying out any worse. Think just a good scrubbing and a pressure washer is enough prep?

Thanks, Dave

I would sand the crud off the fiberglass and then give it a coat of fiberglass resin-(Top Coat)That will make it look new again.

You say a Brain Storm,,,??? WHAT BRAIN ???