Shower/toilet surround = tank

[MD n Cash]

Hello all, nicely done and informative!
I am soon to start our ground up build on a 170 chassi and was thinking about the shower/toilet area and a surround... It dawned on me to consider a custom made polypropylene surround with a 2 or 3" wall thickness ... this would double as a water tank!! 2 sided at 27/30 x3" x 60 is 9.5 gallons... why not??? 3 sides would be about 13.5 gal. or even have entire enclosure with door fabricated for even more holding cap.
Has anyone ever seen this ??
TNX in advance! DMncash

[Twoxentrix]

Interesting idea. With those measurements I would suspect you would need some structural support...at least down the middle to keep the tank(S) from bulging over time. That would either add to the "wall" thickness, OR you create section that marry together somehow (EX: 3 sections butted together that are 9x3x60 to achieve one wall - then the sides of each become the structural integrity when joined together by aluminum H-channel). Challenge then becomes how plumb them so the tanks are equalized.
Your door idea presents some opportunities as well - hinges would have to effectively support close to 70+ lbs of sloshing liquid.
No doubt you'll get some additional ideas... would be fun to see such a concept come together !

[MD n Cash]

yes, thanksl!!
wall interior struts as vertical support -with holes so it baffles as well!

[JWA]

This is a VERY interesting idea--clever use of formerly "lost" space!

Do you have any sort of drawing or sketch showing how you think this could be achieved? From my POV the three sided "tank" would be a bit "better" in that the vertical right angles could be their own sort of reinforcement to adjacent sides.

You might try finding a local custom aquarium builder or any shop that specializes in plastic fabrication.

[BroncoHauler]

Very cool idea. My only concern would be the center of gravity of a full tank.


Herb

[MD n Cash]

not really concerned about water weight in the tank design as it would drop fairly quickly with use, aside from the low mass inertial weight of only 20gals. dispersed over 3 wall sides... insignificant really...
its to be attached to the van wall with a flange on rear sides and bottom....

ugghhh.. got 2 responses back form plastics guys... one siad to much to bother for 1 use... and the other said YES n but its 1600$ lol... oh well...

Maybe a more economical approach would be using prefabed tanks and then stacking them ... back to the drawing board! thanks for all of the encouragements!!