Has anyone taken a wooden tower tank apart for repair?

[hwy8]

I'm hoping to get started on my tank by the end of May so I thought I'd ask now if anyone would like to share their knowledge/experience. As you can see in my photos, The bottom has a portion that is missing and it looks to me like I'd have to take the tank apart in order to replace those boards. I don't want to simply patch or cover the bottom, I'd like to keep water in it in the summer.

So, after numbering, I'd slip the rods/clamps off, and start removing the staves on the side that needs the bottom repair. It appears that the edges of the staves are simply cut at an angle and they have a flat surface rather than a spline or some kind of tenon. I'm guessing it is that bevel, the tightened rods, and the swelling of the wet wood that keeps everything together.

Should I just remove the few staves and put them back into place after repairing the bottom, or should I disassemble the entire tank? I'm a little afraid of that path, wondering if I could get it back together....I have thought about routing/carefully chiseling the "tails" off the staves next to the missing bottom boards, then after replacing those boards, restore the tails with waterproof glued-on matching pieces. Know what I mean?

The main plan is to use the mill to pump water in a closed loop (from a stock tank, up into the tower tank, then down through the pump, back into the tank (or small clean pond) on the ground. I've been playing with a regulator on my B-702 and it would be fun as a demonstrator with the float etc.

[Wayne]

My thought for any job I do is what is the best course of action with the least amount of work. I'd only take loose what I'd need, to put the new boards in.

[Bryon]

Keep in mind, once you remove one of the staves, they are all going to want to fall together in the center. Some kind of curved support on the outside that can be attached to each stave that you are NOT going to remove would help. I have no ideal what that would look like.

[hwy8]

I'll be headed to Lowe's for a couple of sheets of 2" foam insulation and several tubes of liquid nails. The tank is 2' at the top and 4' at the bottom so I'll cut and trim two disks those sizes to fit somewhat tightly inside the tank. With the rest of the foam board (the part with the holes) I'll fabricate a top and bottom "frame" to hold the outside of the tank together. As I build it, I'll develop a sense of how close/tight to make it because what I really want is to avoid is, removing the bands and having the whole thing turn into a "bloomin' onion" !!!

(At serious risk of going off-topic, I'm including a couple of pics to show how handy foam board and liquid nails can be. I was asked to build a clock for a building and I insisted that a mock-up should be temporarily hung in place.That's a gold painted basketball on top. Afterwards, that foam clock hung from a tree in my friends woods for years!)

[windybob]

Wow, that's awesome!

[Wayne]

I agree Windy. Awesome! Seems you have been down the road of southern engineering before. I figure you will do a bang up job with your water tank.

[hwy8]

Right now I'm in that dreamy-eyed stage; "Oh, that shouldn't be too difficult" Ask me in about a month, "how much do you want for that pile of kindling?" (Thanks for the votes of confidence though....)

[pcowley (RIP)]

When I do a bucket I put in staples in both ends to hold the staves together,

[hwy8]

Not a bad idea, it would help keep them in place....Do you mean into the end-grain top and bottom? What kind of staples?

I was thinking of using a couple of bicycle tire tubes like bungee straps.....staples would be added protection...

[Smax]

The staples will definitely help . when making straight sided tanks I have also stapled plastic banding tape to the sides to hold everything in place while repairing a slat. Some of the barrel making videos on you tube might be of interest