Over the winter I'm hoping to have a go at building my own gunge tank. I have tried this before a few years ago but what I ended up with was no good for the space I had at the time and had some design flaws. I've no idea how much usage I'll get from it, or how to go about getting others to try it out for me either. One day I hope to produce some videos to share, but really that's just a dream for now.
Anyway this time I'm looking to build something more heavy duty but cannot decide on the dimensions.
Firstly how tall should it be? Should it be quite tall so it's easy to stand up inside or should it be shorter so that it's only suitable for the occupant to sit down inside. Personally I prefer the idea of being able to stand in there but I'm 6' tall so really if the tank ends up being taller than this, plus adding the height of a reservoir then I'm worried about it's size in relation to the ceiling. Building a shorter one would be easier, cheaper and of course easier to move around, use indoors and to fill up... But it's not the same.
Secondly how wide should it be? Personally I think it should be a little cramped but have room to turn around in. I keep toying with measurements like 80x80, 75x75, 70x70... But can't decide.
I plan to build it in stages and will start with the base. Getting the width of that right first is the most important for now as I can then make height mock ups from wood after. Before anyone asks I have no idea on the release mechanism yet!
Ours is quite tall and you can stand up however you wouldn't be able to use it indoors. You also need to think about refilling the reservoir as pouring buckets into a reservoir with the ceiling just above isn't going to be easy. We use a set of step ladders to refill ours but then we do all our shoots in the marquee now.
Width wise, we started with a shower tray and went from there, I think ours is 70 x 70 which is fine..
The biggest issue you need to consider is if you are using it indoors then where is the gunge going to go after the gunging ? Its not an issue for us being outside but inside its easy to end up using a few hundred litres or more of gunge.
I don't plan to use it inside my house but don't want to rule out moving it to different locations. At home it will live in the garage.
Regarding where the gunge will go, I am planning to make the base watertight and fairly deep. I did consider having the base on a raised platform and some sort of valve to drain it but of course that would add way too much height.
Really if it's well sealed it should just be a case of scooping and cleaning. Annoyingly cleanliness is quite important so I intend to make it relatively easy to clean and as self contained as possible.
The only other problem is dealing with what comes out of the door.
Love you, too
