Originally Posted by
road-warrior
I admire ingenuity and the willingness to be creative on projects. However, I suspect that you are not trained in structural engineering, given what is described in written text and what is shown in your photographs. While this project may be for personal use on private property, I wonder if your local building codes department still has jurisdiction. Such a system to support nearly 25,000 pounds of water, the tank, structure, platform live load, and to withstand wind or seismic loads, appears lacking in many regards. The support of the tank through the saddles may create point loads the tank designer did not envision, as well. In addition, no description could be seen as to how the platform legs transmit vertical and lateral loads to the ground, and lateral bracing of the system was not evident. I offer this information to you in order that you can be aware of the many items that must be considered such that a safe and code-compliant system in provided. Life safety for any who will be on or around your assembly is paramount. If the item should collapse and someone is injured or worse, you as the property owner will be held responsible, and your property insurer will hire an engineering consulting firm to determine the cause of failure - I know this to be accurate, because I conducted many forensic evaluations when actively practicing engineering over my long career. In your best interest, I recommend you engage a qualified engineer to review and evaluate your project; the small expense now could far offset future costs should something untoward happen.