Roto molding bait tanks for small boats

[elrodphil]

Hello,
I am an agriculture student, and I am trying to find out the best way to design and manufacture small, 10–15-gallon, oval, roto molded bait tanks for fishermen. Any suggestions on where to start? I have no experience in this area, but I see a market for this type of accessory for fishermen in my area. I would like to keep the tanks in a price range that most fishermen can afford. Filtered tanks in my area are selling for $800-$1000.

Thank you for your help...

 

[MintJulep]

Maybe you could give us a link to the $800 - $1,000 tanks so we can understand what you're thinking about.

 

[elrodphil]

Here is a couple of pictures…

 

[elrodphil]

The tank in the pictures is a reasonably priced tank…300-400$…that was very popular in my area. The company went out of business.

 

[elrodphil]

The dimensions on the tank are…

15.5"W x 15.5"H x 20"L

 

[3DDave]

A brief search on filtered bait tanks indicate considerable complexity over a plain roto-molded part.

At least one maker advertises them as being rotomolded.

One area of consumer sales is that if an item is priced cheap it will be perceived as cheap and skipped. At the same time a cheap price leaves less money for advertising, for handling returns, warranty replacements, answering questions about the product, paying for the storage of yet unsold product, and so on.

 

[elrodphil]

Thank you so much for your comment…that is definitely something to consider. I see a hole in the market… tanks seem to be really expensive or they are basically a rubbermaid trash can with an aerator…I hope to make something in the middle…even the trash cans are 100$.

 

[MintJulep]

The company went out of business.

That should tell you something about the market conditions.

The tank in your pictures doesn't look rotomolded. Regardless, rotomold tooling is expensive.

Buy a cheap bucket. Design a top.

15 Liter Square Bucket,16 Ltr Square Pail,4 Gallon Square Plastic Bucket With Tamper Evident Lid - Buy Square Bucket,15 Liter Square Bucket,Square Bucket With Lid Product on Alibaba.com

15 Liter Square Bucket,16 Ltr Square Pail,4 Gallon Square Plastic Bucket With Tamper Evident Lid - Buy Square Bucket,15 Liter Square Bucket,Square Bucket With Lid Product on Alibaba.com

www.alibaba.com

 

[elrodphil]

Thank you so much for your insight. I seriously might be barking up the wrong tree with my idea. How do you believe the tank in the picture is manufactured? I know the top hatch is made from marine starboard…

 

[3DDave]

Why would rotomolding tooling be so expensive? It's a closed metal container that is exposed to a relatively low heat and no pressure is applied.

The heating oven for a large rotomold is moderately expensive just from the size.

If one is using a curing resin there's no need for an oven.

That bucket in the ad is injection molded and that is, because of the pressure required and the areas exposed to that pressure, an expensive mold.

 

[LittleInch]

They seem cheaper when I look but maybe you're after something more complex?

Amazon.com

Define your requirements, but plenty of DIY videos to choose from to see which could work.